


Let me run away

by Littleredridinghunter



Series: Actor Stiles [1]
Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Actor Stiles, BAMF Stiles, Clumsy Stiles Stilinski, F/M, Hurt Stiles, Insecure Derek, Jealous Derek, M/M, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Oblivious Stiles, POV Erica, POV Stiles, Pining Derek, Raped Stiles Stilinski, Stiles is Pushed Out of the Pack, Stiles-centric, mainly dereks pov
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-21
Updated: 2016-11-21
Packaged: 2018-09-01 07:40:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Rape/Non-Con
Chapters: 1
Words: 45,399
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8615422
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Littleredridinghunter/pseuds/Littleredridinghunter
Summary: Stiles overhears the pack talking about kicking him out. He leaves town and stumbles onto a television set and his whole life changes abruptly. Monsters hide around every corner and not just the supernatural kind.





	

**Author's Note:**

> So there's is some violence obviously. I've mentioned rape and it is in there. But it's not very graphic because I think I just fail miserably at trying to write it. 
> 
> I kind of lost steam towards the end of this. So I've finished it for now. I might write some extra bits but for now I'm going to say it's finished. 
> 
> I sort of want to write it again from Stiles POV but I've got another story that has been sat in my head and I want to get to writing that one so I'm leaving this here for now.
> 
> Hope you enjoy!

STILES

Stiles studied his reflection in the mirror, at seventeen he was just beginning to fill his frame. Admittedly he was still a bit lanky and uncoordinated. But his shoulders were broader, his body was more lean than thin and there was definite muscle mass there. He’d run his hands through his brown hair so often that it was sticking up in every direction. His skin was paler than it had ever been before, usually because most of his activities left him running around at night and sleeping all day. There were dark circles under his eyes showing that he wasn’t sleeping nearly as much as he needed to, the haunted look in his usually bright whisky eyes reflected that. But when he slept there were always nightmares. 

It was easier now his dad knew about the supernatural, he didn’t need to sneak around so much and that definitely made it simpler. But then there were days like this. It was Saturday afternoon and they’d been out late last night fighting off a witch. Stiles wasn’t even sure how it had happened, one minute he’d been running away, at a very impressive speed if you were a human, and then he’d slipped and started to fall. Derek had caught him by the scruff of the neck, keeping him on his feet, except his claws had been out and he’d cut into the back of Stiles’ neck. 

Stiles didn’t need werewolf senses to know that Derek felt guilty, he didn’t need to feel guilty about anything, he’d saved Stiles from probably falling and breaking a leg. Instead Stiles felt guilty because Derek was feeling guilty. He was feeling weak and useless and generally no help at all. He knew it was probably all in his head, he hoped the rest of the pack didn’t feel that way, but he was never sure. 

His dad had left for a shift an hour or so before and Stiles was sat at home, brooding slightly over the fact that he was injured once again and everyone else would probably be healed by now. At least it was his plan that meant they’d got the witch. At least he could rationalize that he was useful to the pack in some way. 

His phone started vibrating on his desk and he turned away from the mirror to grab it, he glanced once at the caller ID and saw it was Scott. As soon as Stiles answered the call he knew it was a pocket dial. He sighed heavily, how could a werewolf not hear when he was pocket dialling someone? Stiles was about to hang up when he heard other voices and very quickly put his end on mute. He wasn’t sure why he did it, if anyone asked him later why he wouldn’t have been able to give them a straight answer, or hell, any answer at all. Just some tiny part of him said to mute it and listen to the conversation. 

“Alright Hale, we’re all here. What’s so important?” His dad said and Stiles gasped slightly, why was his dad with the pack when he wasn’t? He stood up, ready to head over to the loft right now when the next words cut him dead.

“I called a meeting about Stiles. I thought you’d want to be here.” Derek said stiffly.

“Where is Stiles?” Scott asked, “Surely if this meeting is about him he should be here.” Stiles heard half the room sigh heavily but it was Erica who spoke up.

“Derek wants to talk to us about Stiles. Then he’s going to talk to Stiles once we’ve decided a few things.”

“A few things like what?” Lydia said suspiciously and Stiles nodded in agreement, perching on the edge of his chair and gazing at the phone as if he could actually see them sat in the room.

“Stiles got hurt again last night.” Derek said firmly, “Which I take full responsibility for. But, I wanted to talk to you all and discuss the idea of Stiles not coming out with us anymore.” 

Stiles swallowed heavily, the only reason Derek was discussing this and not just roaring out an order was because Stiles had persuaded him to be more open with communication. And this was how he was using it? To kick Stiles out of the pack!? Stiles had tried to offer advice to Derek so many times, to have weekly pack nights, to be more comfortable with touching members of the pack, to opening up and expressing his emotions. Obviously Derek had shot all those ideas down and now he knew why. Because Derek didn’t want him around.

“What?” Allison asked in confusion, “I don’t understand.” Stiles nodded, neither did he. What was going on?

“Stiles,” Derek sighed heavily, Stiles could imagine his rubbing his hand across his forehead as he struggled to use his words, “He’s become a liability. He’s constantly getting hurt. How long before someone else gets hurt trying to help him?” Derek said and Stiles felt his stomach drop when there was only silence on the other end of the phone.

“Yeah, but he helps out too.” Jackson said and Stiles couldn’t believe that Jackson was the one sticking up for him, “I mean, he makes great bait.” 

“That’s the point.” Derek said huffily, “He is constantly throwing himself into trouble and he’s not like us, he’s not strong like us, or fast, he won’t heal the same, he’s not trained the same, he’s a danger to himself and to us.” Stiles stared at the phone numbly. He never imagined that was how they felt, he begged for anyone to say anything to disagree with Derek, that he wasn’t a danger, he wasn’t weak, he wasn’t a liability. He was of more use to them than just bait.

“I can see where you’re coming from Hale.” His dad said quietly and suddenly Stiles couldn’t listen to anymore. He didn’t want to hear anymore. He ended the call abruptly and started pacing around the room, his mind racing. They were going to kick him out of the pack, they were going to toss him away like rubbish. Well, no, he wasn’t going to let that happen. 

He came to an abrupt stop, glaring at the phone still on his desk and then at his wardrobe. He wasn’t sure what his plan was completely but he knew he wasn’t going to be here when Derek came to talk, delivering the fateful news. He pulled out a bag from under his bed and started throwing clothes into it quickly. He grabbed his stash of money, because come on, Stiles had been tutoring people since he could read, of course he had a stash of money ready for emergencies. How could he have ever been so stupid to believe they wanted him around? He was an idiot. He was disgusted with himself for being so stupid. For ever thinking he was anything more than a liability.

He glanced around at his room, what else would he take? What else did he really need? He pulled a couple of the older books he’d acquired off the shelf and a photo of his mum and dad. The other photos could stay here. He wouldn’t need to be reminded of the pack, he wouldn’t need to see his smiling face in amongst a load of people who secretly thought he was weak and pathetic. He glanced back at the phone. No, that would stay here, one because he could be tracked by it and two, because he didn’t want to be tempted to call any of the pack and beg them to reconsider. No, that would stay here. He should probably leave a note though, he didn’t want his dad panicking for no reason. 

He tore a piece of paper out of one of his textbooks and grabbed a pen:

‘Dad, going out of town for a few days. Need to clear my head. Don’t worry. Be in touch soon.’

He threw his bag on his shoulder and rushed down the stairs, grabbing his car keys on the way out of the door. He slung the bag onto the back seat of the jeep, reversed out of the drive and then was on his way. Part of him felt guilty that he was leaving his dad alone, but his dad wouldn’t be alone, evidently he was closer with the pack than he’d let on. 

Stiles was hurt and he was angry, he hated himself more in that moment than he ever had before and he knew he needed to get away before he took it out on the wrong people. He didn’t know where he was going so he just kept driving. 

DEREK

Derek had almost broken down when he saw the blood running from Stiles’ neck. He’d done that. He’d hurt a member of his pack. Worse, he’d hurt Stiles, he’d hurt his mate. He’d never felt so guilty in all of his life. They’d finished off the witch and then they’d all gone home, Stiles glancing across at him and reassuring him that it wasn’t his fault. True mates were so rare in this world, sure, there was always those that smelt like potential mates, ones that you could have a relationship with, ones that smelt so much better than the rest of the population. That was what Paige had been, a potential mate, and if she hadn’t died then Derek probably would have loved her for the rest of his life. But Stiles wasn’t a potential mate, he was his true mate, the moment he’d seen him he’d known that there was never going to be anyone else, that Stiles was the only one for him. His True Mate. Something Derek knew he would never deserve.

Derek had been terrified, watching Stiles stumble, knowing the witch was only moments behind them. He’d just grabbed hold of him and shoved him onwards, not realizing what he’d done until he smelt blood. He didn’t deserve Stiles, that was why he’d never told him about how much he meant to Derek. How could he? Stiles was still a kid, with his whole life ahead of him and Derek didn’t want to tear that all away from him by telling him that actually Derek was crazy about him and wanted him as his mate and would do anything necessary to have that. 

No. It couldn’t happen. But that didn’t mean he had to sit back and watch as Stiles put himself in mortal danger. He had to try and protect him, which was why he called a pack meeting and even asked John to come along. The whole pack trudged in, some of them looking confused, some of them anxious, perhaps they could smell the worry coming from Derek.

“Alright Hale, we’re all here. What’s so important?” John grumbled from his seat next to Scott. He looked weary, no doubt just as worried about Stiles as he was.

“I called a meeting about Stiles. I thought you’d want to be here.” Derek said, hoping that John wasn’t about to bite his head off for hurting Stiles the night before.

“Where is Stiles?” Scott asked, looking a bit like a kicked puppy, it was odd to see him without Stiles, it was normal to see Stiles without Scott, but the only time Scott came to the loft was with Stiles, “Surely if this meeting is about him he should be here.”

“Derek wants to talk to us about Stiles. Then he’s going to talk to Stiles once we’ve decided a few things.” Erica said swiftly and Derek glanced at her gratefully. He wasn’t the best at communicating it, he knew it, Stiles pointed it out all the time. He was working on it. He wanted to be better at being Alpha. He wanted Stiles to want him as a mate, to do that, he had to prove himself worthy.

“A few things like what?” Lydia asked, her gaze narrowed at Derek, he wondered if Lydia knew just how deep his feelings were for Stiles. He squared his shoulders.

“Stiles got hurt again last night.” Derek said firmly, “Which I take full responsibility for. But, I wanted to talk to you all and discuss the idea of Stiles not coming out with us anymore.” He didn’t want to think of Stiles ever getting hurt because of him, he wanted to protect Stiles and the best way to do that would be to make sure he stuck firmly to research, not running around the woods at night.

“What?” Allison asked in confusion, “I don’t understand.” She said and Derek sighed heavily, how could he even begin to explain this?

“Stiles,” Derek sighed heavily, rubbing his hand across his forehead as he struggled to find the right words, “He’s become a liability. He’s constantly getting hurt. How long before someone else gets hurt trying to help him?” 

“Yeah, but he helps out too.” Jackson said and Derek glanced up at him, of all the people Derek expected to have a problem with this, it wouldn’t be Jackson, “I mean, he makes great bait.” Derek glowered at him. 

“That’s the point.” He growled, “He is constantly throwing himself into trouble and he’s not like us, he’s not strong like us, or fast, he won’t heal the same, he’s not trained the same, he’s a danger to himself and us.” Derek said, he hoped he’d got his point across, that he was suggesting this because he wanted to protect Stiles, he didn’t want to see him hurt, or see anyone else hurt trying to protect him. 

“I can see where you’re coming from Hale.” John said frowning slightly, Derek let out a little sigh of relief, if John agreed with him then the others would as well. “But we all know Stiles’ doesn’t do as he’s told. If you’re really going to stick him on research duty or something, then he’s just going to get pissed off until he gets fed up and goes off and does something stupid by himself.” 

“I agree with John.” Scott said firmly, “Surely it’s better that Stiles is somewhere where we can keep an eye on him?” 

“Not when he gets hurt.” Lydia said, “I know you guys want to protect Stiles, but I’m with Derek. Stiles doesn’t consider his own safety, at all, ever. He’d do anything if it meant he was helping you guys. I don’t like the idea of Stiles being cooped up, but I hate the idea of him being in the wrong place at the wrong time and getting killed.” There were a few murmurs of agreement and Derek nodded seriously before John got up from his seat.

“Fine with me. If you want this, you can be the one to tell Stiles about it. I’ve got a shift to finish.” John said already heading for the door. 

Derek waited for the rest of the pack to settle in for a movie before he went to his room and thought about what he was going to say. How could he possibly word this that Stiles wouldn’t end up hating him? 

By the time he’d worked up the courage to go and talk to Stiles it was already dark outside and most of the pack had left. He pulled up outside of the house just as John pulled up and he watched as John scrubbed at his eyes. 

“I’d really hoped you’d already done this so I wouldn’t have to be here for the screaming match.” John said heavily and Derek only grimaced. It wasn’t going to be that bad he told himself, oddly enough he didn’t believe it.

“Is he here?” Derek asked when he noticed the absence of the jeep.

“Hmm, guess not. Why don’t you come in for a drink and wait?” John said, already unlocking the front door. Derek stepped inside the house and straight away he knew something was wrong. He could smell Stiles but the scent was hours old and it smelt of hatred. He brushed past John who looked a bit startled but let him go up the stairs. 

When he got to Stiles’ room all the breath left his lungs. Most of his clothes were gone, his favourite supernatural history books, the picture he had of his mum and dad. It looked like a whirlwind had torn through the room. But Derek still noticed the phone on the desk and the hastily scrawled note next to it. He read it through once, then again. He couldn’t believe this, Stiles had left town because of him, that was the only explanation. Derek had hurt him and now Stiles needed time to clear his head. He’d even left his phone meaning none of them would be able to get in touch with him. He groaned, running his hand through his dark hair and across his mouth in order to stop a sob escaping. His usual green eyes were flashing red as he struggled to control his wolf. He’d let his mate down so badly that he’d fled town. Derek was a failure.

He was sat on the bed, the note still in his hand when John entered the room. John took one look around the room, snatched the note from Derek’s trembling hands and read it through. John’s whole body was shaking by the time he’d read the note through for the fourth time. He could see John taking stock of the room, what was missing, what was still here. He suddenly spun on his heel and stormed back downstairs. Derek could hear him on the phone to the station, putting out an APB on Stiles’ jeep. 

Derek didn’t think it would do any good but he sat and listened anyway. John came back a little while later and looked at Derek sternly. 

“Whatever you’re thinking right now Hale, get it out of your head. Stiles does what he wants when he wants.” John said and Derek nodded numbly, this was his fault, all his fault. What if Stiles got hurt? Or his jeep broke down? He must have been so angry to leave his phone when he knew he wouldn’t be able to speak to any of the pack. Derek didn’t realize he’d hurt Stiles that much, enough that he’d reject the whole pack because of it. He’d thought it was just a slight scratch, it must have been worse than that. 

STILES

Stiles drove for two days straight, only stopping to refill the tank and grab as many energy drinks as possible. He wasn’t sure where he was going, he just knew he needed to get away. By the time he stopped he was in Los Angeles, he pulled up to a rundown motel and got a room for a few nights. He collapsed fully clothed on the bed and slept for thirty-three hours.

When he woke up he felt better than he had done in a long time. He took a long shower, grateful for the hot water that continually pounded down on his sore muscles. He glanced at himself again in the mirror and noticed that the dark circles had gone from under his eyes. Who knew that he only needed to sleep for a day and a half? 

The morning was just starting and Stiles decided that food was probably a priority. He went to the front desk and paid for another two nights, he wasn’t in a rush to get anywhere, the bed was comfy, the water was hot and the price was cheap. 

He wandered down the road to a nearby diner and was greeted by the smells of fried foods. His stomach rumbled in appreciation and he quickly ordered a full breakfast, the elderly waitress glancing at him with a motherly concern when she noticed the scratches at the back of his neck.

“My dog gets a bit too excited.” He said calmly, smiling at her brightly and she laughed and patted him on the shoulder before disappearing back into the kitchen. 

He wolfed down the breakfast, he hadn’t realized how hungry he was until it was sat in front of him. He had a cup of coffee, he knew it would make him jittery for the rest of the day but he didn’t really care all that much, the sun was shining, the birds were singing and for the first time in ages he didn’t have to think about anything supernatural.

Yeah, that lasted about five minutes. 

Stiles was wandering around downtown, just enjoying the fact that he could be a kid for a little while, when he saw two guys in an alleyway. Now, logically, he knew that he should just keep walking, ignore it and act like he’d seen nothing. But he was also a sheriff’s son with a habit of sticking his nose in where it didn’t belong, hell, that was the reason Derek wanted to kick him out of the pack. So instead of carrying on walking like he knew he should have done, he turned down the alley and walked towards the two men ahead of him.

One was holding the other up against the wall, an arm across his chest. He was slightly taller, long blonde hair, pale skin and an altogether threatening attitude. The other guy was shorter, dark haired and looked like he was about to wet himself with fear.

“Hey!” Stiles shouted before he could stop himself, the blonde haired guy turned towards him and Stiles stopped in his tracks because they were teeth, really big, long teeth, like fucking vampire teeth, and they were accompanied by glowing yellow eyes. Stiles gulped loudly, looking around for a weapon.

“Leave!” The blonde haired man demanded and the darker haired man whimpered in fear. 

“Not going to happen.” Stiles said, trying to fake a calm demeanour when really his heart was going like crazy. He guessed vampire guy could probably hear that from the smirk on his face. Stiles reached and grabbed a piece of wood from the nearby dumpster. It wasn’t as good as his bat which was sitting uselessly in his back seat. He hadn’t thought to bring it and why would he? 

The vampire smirked at him, glancing at the piece of wood and then at Stiles.

“What are you going to do with that?” The man laughed

“I was thinking of shoving it through your chest. I don’t know if it’ll kill you but I’ve seen enough Buffy to give it a good shot.” Stiles smiled in reply, swinging the wood against the wall and breaking it into two pieces. 

He didn’t know why but the vampire suddenly twisted away from Stiles and started running down the other end of the alley. Stiles rushed forward to the dark haired man who had slumped to the ground. 

“You okay?” Stiles asked checking him over for injuries.

“Yeah.” The man said trembling, “Just, fuck, man. He was going to eat me.” The man muttered and Stiles rolled his eyes.

“No, he was going to suck you dry. Wendigo’s eat you. Vampires drain blood.” The man looked at Stiles like he’d actually gone crazy. “I’m going to try and follow him. Wait here.” Stiles said, running after the vampire. 

He didn’t have a clue why he was actually running after a vampire, surely, logically, he should go back to the motel and hide, but he was worried about the vampire going after someone else, hurting someone else because Stiles had chased him away from his first victim. 

He chased after the guy for at least twenty minutes before he lost sight of him and started to actually pay attention to his surroundings. He was in the middle of a warehouse estate. There were a lot of people about, driving from warehouse to warehouse in little golf carts, what was that about? It was literally like a hundred feet between each one. 

Suddenly someone gripped him by the elbow and was dragging him towards one of the warehouses.

“What are you doing?” Stiles said trying and failing to wiggle out of the grip.

“We’ve been looking for you for the last twenty minutes.” The man said, he was obviously very stressed out. “We can’t shoot the next scene until you get here. What took you so long?” 

“Erm…” Stiles said, obviously the guy had him confused with someone else.

“Look,” The man said, turning to look Stiles in the eye, “You are the extra the studio is supposed to be sending across, aren’t you?” 

“No.” Stiles said, “I literally have no idea what you’re on about.” The man looked him up and down.

“Well, here’s the thing. We need an extra for the scene. You’re here. The extra isn’t. You don’t need to do anything. Just stand there and look pretty.” The man said, shoving Stiles through the door. “He’s here.” The guy shouted loudly to the warehouse and Stiles looked around in amazement, he was standing in the middle of a television set. He vaguely recognized it and it took him a moment to realize that it was the set of one of the god awful supernatural shows that he watched at Derek’s. Purely to wind the man up of course. Okay, maybe he secretly enjoyed it but still, he wouldn’t admit that. 

Stiles was dragged by a woman this time to a chair and shoved into it. She studied him for a moment before humming happily. 

“Don’t think we’ll need to make you up too much. Just a little bit to get rid of these shadows.” She said, grabbing her make-up and dabbing it gently under Stiles’ eyes.

“There’s been a mistake.” Stiles stuttered. 

“Look, kid,” The man from earlier appeared behind his chair, “All we need you to do is get lured into an alleyway with our latest vampire, be all weak in the knees, then our hero swoops in and saves you and the day. Got it?” He said hastily, dragging Stiles from the seat and shoving him towards the stage. Stiles stumbled and managed to stop himself from falling flat on his face. “And we’re rolling!” The man shouted.

He had no idea what was going on. Which is why when the vampire from earlier stepped into the shot, smirking at Stiles and wearing an obviously fake set of teeth, Stiles tensed up and took a step backwards towards the set wall. 

“Come on little rabbit, don’t be afraid of me.” The vampire smirked and Stiles tried to calm his racing breath. The vampire took another step closer and Stiles hit his back on the wall. Another step and the vampire was within touching distance, grabbing on Stiles’ hair and pulling his head to the side to expose his neck. 

It was the moment that Stiles felt pricks of teeth on his skin that he suddenly came to his senses and shoved the vampire away. 

“What the hell man!?” Stiles shouted and the vampire snarled. The noise made Stiles burst into a fit of laughter. “Seriously?” He laughed, “I ran with werewolves, you really need to work on your intimidation techniques.” Before straightening up glaring at the vampire with disdain.

“Cut!” Someone shouted from behind one of the cameras. The man walked across to Stiles and Stiles gulped, oddly, this man looked intimidating. “What was that?” The man said calmly. “Jen, Mark, get your asses here.” 

Stiles glanced around at the sound of two people hurrying towards him. 

“Did you read the script?” The first man asked, studying Stiles.

“Nope.” Stiles said, “I’m not even an actor. I just got kind of lost.” He said honestly and the man looked at him with a puzzled expression before turning to Jen and Mark. 

“I want his part writing in. How come neither of you thought to add something like werewolves? Am I working with amateurs?” The man huffed, “Kid, what’s your name?” 

“Erm, Stiles.” Stiles said, feeling completely and utterly out of his depth. 

“Stiles, your very good at improvisation. I want you to come work on our show.” The man said, leaving no room for any question.

“Actually, sorry, I don’t know your name?” 

“Andy.” 

“Right, Andy, I’m only in town for a few days.”

“Nope. Stiles, kid, listen to me, you’ve got great acting skills, you’re a natural. I want you on this show and I’ll do anything necessary to keep you. You want it, you just ask. I’ll make sure to pay you well, come on, don’t let me down.” Andy said, throwing an arm around his shoulder. 

“Well,” Stiles said pausing, it would be kind of cool to be on television, “Maybe, I could give it a go?” He said hesitantly. 

“Great.” Andy said, “Mark, I want a part writing for him right now. I want to have this kickass human coming in from out of nowhere, knowing about the supernatural world for years, fighting his way through it, I want him to look like this, a bit muddled together, I don’t want a perfectionist, I want a realist. I want Jason, he’s our vampire hero, to come in ready to save the guy, only to find out he doesn’t need saving. Someone get Stiles here to costume.” Andy said marching through the set and shouting orders in every direction. Mark and Jen both flashed him a quick grin before disappearing off to one of the back tables. 

Stiles was dragged from the set to the costume department, he glanced down at the handful of clothes he was thrown, they looked pretty much identical to what he was already wearing. 

“Hey.” Another guy said strolling through the costume department, “I’m Jason.” He said reaching out to shake Stiles’ hand. He was tall, dark and brooding. Stiles wasn’t going to say that he bore a slight resemblance to Derek. He wasn’t even going to think it. Not at all. 

“Hi.” Stiles said as calmly as he could manage.

“I saw you earlier. You were good.” Jason said, sinking down in the make-up chair and smiling when the woman came across to him.

“Thanks.” Stiles said nervously, clearing his throat, “I’m, erm, I’m not sure what I’m doing here actually. I’m not an actor. I was literally just out for a walk this morning and then wham, suddenly here and on set and shit, I literally have no idea what’s going on.” Stiles rambled.

“Seriously?” Jason said arching an eyebrow and looking at him with amusement. Stiles nodded repeatedly. “Oh my god! This is amazing! So you’ve literally never even acted before at all?”

“Well,” Stiles said, “I lied to my dad a lot, that involved some serious acting skills, he’s a sheriff and has like a spooky sense of when I’m lying. So getting away with it was serious business.” Stiles said, blushing slightly. 

“Dude!” Jason said happily, “No way! You’re going to liven this place up so much. This show has been so boring, like literally it’s just like, kill the monster of the week, flirt with the girl, go home, brood. You’re actually going to be like my sidekick or whatever.” 

“Yeah?” Stiles said, licking his dry lips when his voice cracked.

“Course you are man. This is going to be awesome.” Jason said and Stiles couldn’t help but relax slightly. Jason seemed like a nice guy, apart from the fact that there was an actual vampire running around on set. But he figured he’d deal with that later.

He spent the rest of the day on set, apparently he was very good, Stiles tried not to blush at the compliments coming his way, he really wasn’t use to all this attention. The day flew by, the vampire glared at him for the first scene but Stiles had glared right back. He knew what the guy was, he wasn’t going to be intimidated by it. Andy seemed to absolutely adore him and Stiles really couldn’t handle it, even when he tripped over his own feet Andy thought it was brilliant, it added humanity to this tough character. Stiles had laughed, he’d never thought he’d be playing the tough guy.

By the time the day was over it was going dark and Stiles left the building feeling a little bit in awe of what had just happened. 

“You coming for a drink Stiles?” Jason said over his shoulder, indicating a pub a bit further down the road. 

“I best not. Don’t have my ID with me.” He lied.

“I know you’re not twenty-one so don’t even try it.” Jason grinned, “How old are you? Eighteen?”

“Seventeen.” Stiles said quietly and Jason gazed at him a little bit.

“And you came out to LA by yourself?” 

“Yeah. Just needed to get away for a bit.”

“Well, welcome to the city that never sleeps.” Jason grinned, “I’ll see you here in the morning, bright and early.”

“What time is early?” Stiles asked.

“Usually around seven.” Jason replied and Stiles groaned. 

“Alright. See you then.” He said throwing a quick wave to Jason and heading back towards the motel. 

He had half expected to find the vampire waiting for him, and thankfully the guy didn’t let him down. 

“So, I’m going to ask you nicely not to attack any more people. Any chance you want to do that?” He asked, raising an eyebrow. 

The vampire growled in reply. 

“Guess that’s a no then. Look man, I don’t want to have to hurt you,” Stiles said, trying to calm the pounding in his chest, “But I’m not going to let you carry on hurting people.” 

“You don’t want to hurt me?” The vampire laughed. “Kid, I’m going to enjoy killing you.” Then he lunged. 

Stiles only just dodged out of the way in time and he stumbled backwards, smashing into the brick wall behind him. He ducked as a fist came his way and grabbed hold of the nearest thing he could reach, he swung blindly, surprised when he heard the solid connection and the hiss of pain from the vampire. 

Stiles scrambled backwards into a ladder and felt it snap under the weight. He grabbed part of it in an effort to hold the raging vampire off. He opened his eyes to see the vampire looking at his chest in horror, part of the wood still sticking out of it. His eyes travelled back up to Stiles’. Both of them staring at each other in shock and surprise before the vampire burst into dust and disappeared. 

“Fuck.” Stiles muttered, getting to his feet, looking at the pile of dust with an expression of awe on his face, “Just like Buffy.” He muttered before heading back to the motel and cleaning himself up. There wasn’t any major damage, just a few cuts and bruises but he’d be fine. He ordered a takeaway and then got a shower and into bed. He needed to sleep, it had been a long day.

He went back to the studio the next day, surprised to see that everyone was greeting him as if he was already part of the furniture and he went out of his way to say hello to everyone, to remember their names, if they were married, if they had kids. Stiles was a sheriff’s son after all and it could be important to know these things.

Amazingly Andy seemed even more impressed with him than the day before and they got through a lot of scenes that day. Stiles and Jason pranking each other slightly and making the other break character only occasionally, and it was a great distraction from thinking about the pack that had been about to kick him to the curb. 

DEREK

It had been two weeks since Stiles had left town. He knew he needed to give Stiles space, not that he could find him even if he tried. But he missed him, like crazily missed him. He missed his laugh, his enthusiasm for absolutely everything, his sarcasm, his wit. The whole pack was suffering, Stiles had been the glue that bound them together and without him they were falling apart.

He went over to John’s house every evening to see if he’d heard from Stiles and every time John would open the door, give Derek a sad shake of the head and then head back into the kitchen and pour himself a glass of whisky.

Tonight was no different. Derek followed him through into the kitchen, already knowing that John would sit and stew in his misery in silence. 

“It’s been two weeks.” John muttered, “What if something’s happened to him? What if he’s dead in a ditch somewhere?” 

“Stiles is resourceful.” Derek reassured him, “He’ll be okay.” He prayed it was true. He couldn’t help but imagine the exact same things as John.

Just as John was about to reply the phone rang and John reached and snatched it out of the cradle. 

“Stiles?” He asked desperately before he’d even got the phone all the way to his ear. It was how John had answered all the calls in the past few weeks. 

“Hey dad.” Derek heard the reply and felt himself instantly relax, as did John, his shoulders loosening for the first time in weeks and the constant expression of fear and stress disappeared into relief. 

“Stiles, where are you, kiddo? Are you coming home? Are you okay?” 

“I’m fine dad.” Stiles said in reply, “I’m okay, but no, I’m not coming home just yet. I’ve got a job here.” 

“A job? Stiles you’re seventeen. You haven’t even finished school yet!” 

“I know. That’s kind of why I’m calling. They’re letting me do some work on set, but they need a copy of my school transcripts. I was wondering if you’d send them across.” 

“To where Stiles? Where are you? And what kind of set? Please don’t tell me you’re starring in some porn shoot?” John said with worry and Stiles laughed down the phone.

“No dad! Of course not. Funny story actually. It’s a supernatural show. They do about vampires and shit and I kind of stumbled onto set and they offered me a part.”

“You stumbled onto a television set?” John said fondly and Derek smiled slightly, yeah that would be the kind of thing Stiles would do.

“Well, yeah, I didn’t mean to. There was a vampire and I chased after him and then Mike grabbed me and thought I was an extra and then the fucking vampire I was chasing tried to bite me so I, of course, mouthed off, and Andy, the director, he loved it, so he offered me a part, like an actual talking part and everything, and yes, I get to keep my clothes on, Jason doesn’t, but he’s like the main character and everything so yeah, flash the flesh, but anyway I’m enjoying myself and it’s nice and I’m not ready to come home and I want to finish school and I thought I’d give you a call and see how you’re doing and you know, just let you know I’m alive.” Stiles rambled slowly trailing off at the end.

“A vampire?” John said looking at Derek with a stunned expression, Derek was horrified, he didn’t even know vampires existed. “An actual vampire?”

“Yeah. I wasn’t completely sure they existed either. But when he tried to kill me after the first day on set and then he disappeared into a pile of ash when I stabbed him, kind of gave the impression they are. I felt like Buffy, dad. It was brilliant. Apart from the nearly getting bitten part. But yeah, still cool, and they obviously aren’t afraid of the sun because when I first saw him it was daylight, and his image showed up on screen so you know, mirrors are probably a myth too.”

“You, you chased a vampire?” John spluttered, “Why the hell weren’t you running in the other direction?” 

“Well, I thought he might hurt someone else. I had to help.” Stiles said firmly, as if that explained everything. John sighed heavily.

“Okay kiddo, so long as you’re okay. But why don’t you want to come home?”

“I told you, I’m enjoying myself here. I don’t want to see the pack yet.” Stiles said, sounding slightly angry and Derek flinched, had he really caused that much damage?

“They all want to see you, talk to you. They miss you.” John said calmly.

“Yeah, well, tough. Look, dad, I’m really sorry, I’m going to have to go. They’re shouting me on set. I’ll speak to you soon. I love you, dad.” Stiles said and John whispered that he loved him too before he quickly hung up.

Derek glared at the table. It was his fault, Stiles wouldn’t come home because of him. Because Derek had hurt him when he was supposed to protect him.

“At least we know he’s alive.” John said slowly and Derek nodded. That was the good news, Stiles was alive. Yet for some reason he had been chasing a vampire. Derek was terrified of something happening to him.

“He didn’t say where he was.” Derek mumbled and John let out a short surprised laugh.

“No. He didn’t. I’ll ask again next time he calls.”

“When we know we should go get him.” Derek said and John stilled. 

“You heard him, he doesn’t want to see any of us at the moment. He’ll come home when he’s ready. I’m sure.” John said. 

Derek couldn’t help but be a little emotional that John had included himself as part of the pack. 

There were a few more calls in the next few weeks, Stiles chatting happily to his dad. Derek never let on that he was there, that he could hear Stiles talking. John never let on either. Derek was kind of glad about it. 

Whenever the pack was mentioned Stiles found a good excuse to end the call and Derek tried not to be hurt by that. When he finally found out that Stiles was in LA of all places he’d had to get almost the whole pack to restrain him before he went after Stiles. Whatever he’d done to upset Stiles so much, it wouldn’t help matters by surprising him at work. 

The whole pack started going over to John’s on a Friday night when Stiles would usually call. John didn’t admit that any of them were there, but it became a bit of a ritual, and afterwards they would sit and watch a film together or chat about their weeks. It was nice.

“Hey dad.” Stiles voice came over the phone and Derek smiled fondly.

“Hey Stiles. How are you doing?” John asked.

“I’m good. A bit sore but otherwise good.”

“Why? Are you okay? Are you hurt?” John asked in a rush and Stiles gave a half laugh down the phone.

“I’m fine dad. There was a big fight scene on set today and you know how uncoordinated I am. I was supposed to go left, I went right. The monster of the week, a.k.a Adam, managed to punch me in the jaw and knock me out. God the guy felt so guilty. I felt pretty bad for him.”

“But you’re okay?” 

“I’m fine dad. Actually, I wanted to let you know, it’s a bit silly really, but the first episode is airing later tonight, and I thought, maybe you’d watch it and then tell me what you think?” Stiles asked, it was obvious to all of them that he was nervous. 

“Of course I will. You want to give me a number I can call you on?” 

“Erm, I haven’t got one yet. I’ve got the day off tomorrow so I’ll probably head into town and get a new phone.”

“You’ve still got you’re old one here. I could post it out to you? Or bring it out to you? I know you don’t have everyone’s numbers and they are all dying to talk to you.”

“No.” Stiles said firmly. “I don’t,” He sighed heavily, “I don’t want to talk to them. Look, I’ve got to go. We’re watching it here at the set and someone’s shouting me. I’ll talk to you later.” Stiles said before hanging up. Derek could feel hurt radiating from the whole pack as Stiles rejected them. 

They sat in silence for a few minutes afterwards before Erica pulled out the latest television magazine. 

“So, the show’s called City of the Dead. That doesn’t sound spooky at all.” She said hollowly.

“I watched that last year, the first season.” Isaac said excitedly, “The main guy is called Jason, and his name is Jason in real life too so it’s like dead easy to remember. He’s a guy who got bitten by this evil vampire and now he goes around saving people from the evil vampires in the city.” Isaac said, sounding way too excited. “I can’t believe Stiles is going to be on that show. It’s brilliant.” He said. Derek wasn’t going to admit that he had already known it was airing and he had already set it to record at home. Nobody needed to know that.

“Yeah, well according to this,” Erica said waving the magazine, “And I quote ‘Jason returns for a second season hunting down the evil in his city. He doesn’t expect to meet Dylan, a human who’s seen a lot more evil than he ever could.’ Well that’s pretty fucking accurate. Stiles has seen more evil than any of us.” She said throwing the magazine down on the floor and flicking the television on. 

They chatted about their weeks quietly, John surprising them all by announcing that they had a deputy position available at the station and he thought Derek should fill it. Even though Derek wanted to turn it down, he had no training after all, the whole pack said it would be a great idea and eventually Derek nodded, thanking John sincerely. John laughed and said he wouldn’t be thanking him once he started. 

Eventually it was time for the programme to start and they all watched in silence. It was odd seeing Stiles for the first time in a month, Derek winced when Stiles said he ran with werewolves, he should still be running with them, had he really hurt Stiles that much that he’d rejected the whole pack? It certainly seemed that way. But overall the acting was amazing, Derek felt like he’d been sucked into their world, forgetting that it wasn’t reality. 

When the credits rolled Derek couldn’t believe it had been an hour already. He could have sat and watched Stiles all day. His character was funny and sarcastic and a little bit clumsy, but he was also deadly and dangerous and not someone to be messed with. Jason and Dylan had hit it off instantly and Dylan ended up saving his life before the end of the episode, armed only with his baseball bat. It was like it was actually Stiles on the show, not Stiles acting. It was an episode of Stiles’ life. Derek wanted to hug him and congratulate him. It was evident that the whole pack thought the same thing, Jackson looked a bit put out but that was apparently because ‘Stilinski is going to be famous before I am. What even is my life?’ They’d all laughed.

John’s phone rang again a little while later and the whole pack went silent when he answered it.

“Hello?”

“Hey dad.” Stiles said in greeting.

“Hey kiddo. That was amazing. I loved it.” 

“Yeah?” 

“Yeah. I’m really impressed.” John said smiling. 

“Good.” Stiles said quietly, “I’m glad, you know, was kind of worried I’d mess it up.” 

“No. Stiles you were brilliant. We all thought so.” John said.

“All?” Stiles asked, his voice cracking slightly. John winced.

“Yeah. Erm, the pack are here, we thought we’d watch it together, they’d love to talk to you.” John said nervously.

“I’ve got to go.” Stiles said suddenly and the phone cut off. 

“Well, that went well.” Lydia said sarcastically. 

“I don’t understand. What did we do?” Scott asked and they all shrugged.

“I think it has to do with me scratching him that night. Maybe he realized how dangerous it is running with wolves. I think that’s why he’s gone.” Derek confessed.

“Don’t be ridiculous.” Jackson said, “If he was worried about the danger he wouldn’t have gone chasing after a vampire. That can’t be it.”

“Why else would he run?” Erica asked. 

“It would help if he would talk to any of us.” Allison said, “I mean if he was worried about the wolves, then okay, maybe I’d understand. But what about me or Lydia? Why’s he avoiding us?” 

There was silence, nobody had the answer. They chatted a little bit more, what they had most enjoyed about the show, before eventually deciding to call it a night.

Derek went home wishing that he could see Stiles, talk to him, apologize and say how sorry he was for hurting him, but none of it was any use. Stiles was hundreds of miles away and didn’t want to speak to any of them. 

The next few weeks passed in a blur, Derek was working at the station and enjoying it more than he thought he would. There was something great about helping people every day, even if it was the small stuff. He was always the first to hear about any supernatural cases which was a great advantage, but oddly, the threats to the town had finally started to slow down and it wasn’t often that they had to go up against anything stronger than a rogue omega.

Each week they would go to John’s house and watch the next episode of City of the Dead. Each week he would be amazed by Stiles and each week there would be no phone call. Pretty soon plenty of other people started to take notice of Stiles too and within a few weeks every magazine in the country wanted an exclusive on Stiles Stilinski. Derek had to physically remove a few reporters from the station and a few more had even turned up at John’s house.

Finally, after three weeks of silence from Stiles, he called again and John answered the phone happily.

“Hey Stiles. How are you doing? Finally got a mobile I see?” 

“Yeah I did, I’m fine dad, how are you?” Stiles said but he sounded a little out of breath. 

“You sure?”

“Yeah. Just decided on a late night run.” Stiles replied.

“By yourself?” 

“Well, you see, the original plan was to go get a pizza, but then there was a rugaru and lots of blood and I decided running would probably be the better option.”

“Rugaru?” John asked and Lydia and Allison started looking through their beastiary that Stiles had helped to put together.

“Yeah. Likes to eat raw meat. And by raw I mean still breathing.” Stiles said quietly. “Oh, look, I’m here. I’ve got to go dad. Just wanted to call in and say hi. Got to go. Love you.” 

John just stared at the phone in his hand as the call cut off. 

“We haven’t got anything on a rugaru. Obviously Stiles is still the researcher.” Allison said flipping through the beastiary uselessly. 

“What did he mean he’s there?” Scott asked. “You think he’s okay? Maybe you should call him back?”

“I’ll try again in a little bit. Maybe give him a chance to get home.” John replied, fiddling with the phone nervously on his lap. He managed to wait a whole half an hour before calling Stiles back. 

“Not a good time!” Stiles shouted down the phone and John heard a loud growl come down the phone. “Shit! Call you back in a minute!” Stiles shouted before the call ended. 

Derek was on his feet in an instant. Stiles sounded like he was in serious danger, he needed to get there, needed to protect Stiles. But Derek wouldn’t be able to get there in time, Stiles could be bleeding out at this very second and there was absolutely nothing he could do. 

The phone rang back five minutes later and John nearly dropped it in his haste to answer it.

“Stiles! Are you okay?” He asked instantly.

“Fine. Just you caught me at a bad time.” Stiles said and although he sounded like he was panting loudly, other than that he didn’t sound hurt.

“Are you alright? Are you safe?” John demanded, the panic obvious in his voice. 

“I’m fine dad. The rugaru is dead. Stupid witch sold me the wrong herbs. I think I’m going to leave a really bad review on her yelp page.” 

“Witch? What the hell are you dealing with witches for?” John shouted.

“Well, where else was I going to get the spell books from? Anyway, important thing, I’m in one piece and the rugaru is dead. So can we just,” Stiles paused, “Oh, crap, hold on one second.”

John paused and they could hear a second voice over the line.

“Hey, aren’t you Stiles?” A young woman’s voice said.

“Erm, yeah, that would be me.” Stiles replied, sounding a bit worried.

“Oh my god. I love you in City of the Dead. Could I get an autograph? And oh my god is that blood?” 

“Erm, yeah, I just left set, lots of blood.” Stiles said, it was obvious to all of them that he was lying.

“That is amazing. Hey could I get a picture with you?” 

“Sure.” Stiles sounded completely baffled by this request. There was the sound of camera clicking and then the excited girl squealed again, thanking Stiles for his time and that she loved his work.

“You want to go get a drink with me?” She asked and Derek fought down the urge to growl down the phone at her.

“Erm, actually, I’m just on the phone to my dad. I should probably get back to him.” Stiles said and they could hear the girl apologizing and the sound of fading footsteps. “Wow! Okay that was weird.” Stiles said breathlessly.

“That was nothing.” John laughed, “You should have seen what Derek had to do to the reporters the other day at the station.”

“There were reporters at the station? Why?”

“To ask about you of course.”

“Me? What? Why?” 

“Stiles, don’t you know just how in demand you are right now? Everyone wants to know everything about you.” 

“What?” Stiles said again in confusion.

“Are you living under a rock? What are you doing when you’re not at set?” John said in good humour.

“Erm, sleeping, eating, trying not to get killed by things I didn’t even know existed. You know, the usual.” Stiles replied and they heard the jingle of keys in a lock. “I’m back at the motel now dad. I’m going to take a shower. I’ll talk to you soon.”

“Okay kiddo. Be safe.” John said, hanging up sadly. 

“So Stiles is like monster hunter extraordinaire now?” Isaac asked, grinning slightly.

“Not to mention spell books and witches?” Erica added in surprise.

Derek just nodded in reply to their questions, the terror of Stiles being hurt still running rampant through his veins. Not to mention the irrational jealousy at the sound of that girl blatantly hitting on him. 

The next few months drove Derek slowly insane, Stiles was everywhere, on covers of magazines, hugging his co-star Jason, a big grin on his face, there were interviews on television which usually resulted in Stiles blushing bright red at the most random moments and laughing happily at others. There were pictures of Stiles covered in cuts and bruises which he always joked with people were caused by witches, wendigos, vampires and basically any other supernatural thing he could come up with, before eventually admitting that he was actually very clumsy and he fell over regularly. Something that Jason agreed with at every opportunity, laughing with Stiles at they recalled some of his worst falls. 

Derek wished he could talk to him, at least apologize for causing him any pain, but any time the pack was mentioned Stiles pretty much ended the call. John had suggested that he go out and visit Stiles a few times but Stiles always turned him down saying he was too busy. They all knew that Stiles didn’t want to see John either and Derek couldn’t understand that either. Why was Stiles mad at his dad? He listened regularly to Stiles’ phone calls, occasionally there was a mention of another monster and a few days later he’d see a picture of Stiles with a few extra bruises, but he looked happy, together, in one piece most of the time. It seemed to lessen slightly when Jason and Stiles moved into an apartment together, apparently they enjoyed spending time together and Jason insisted he had to keep an eye on Stiles, plus he was a great wingman on nights out. Derek had tried to forget about that one. 

He really didn’t want to see pictures of Stiles with other women. Thankfully none had appeared yet, there were plenty of Stiles chatting to various people, but he didn’t seem close with any of them which Derek was extremely grateful for.

It was six months after Stiles had left and they were sat at John’s just watching the last of tonight’s episode. Jason and Dylan had just managed a daring escape from the vampire masters lair and Dylan was shouting his mouth off about what an idiot Jason was and if he wanted to get himself killed do it without him next time. They all knew he didn’t mean it. Dylan wouldn’t ever let Jason get hurt if he could help it. It was exactly how Stiles had been with them. Derek missed him.

“Hey, I sent you something in the post, did you get it?” Stiles asked and John got up out of the chair and went to the post box.

“What is it?” John asked and Stiles laughed.

“Open it old man.” John laughed and tore the package open. A collection of small silver charms fell out of it and clattered onto the table. 

“Stiles, they’re beautiful.” John whispered.

“They are supposed to be for protection. I know that you,” Stiles seemed to stumble over his words slightly before gritting his teeth and continuing, “I know that you are quite close with the pack and I thought it would be a good idea for all of you to have some protection.”

“Stiles, you didn’t have to…”

“I know. But I wanted to. Anyway. It’s not a big deal. Just make sure you wear it or I’ll kick your butt.” 

“Like you could.” John laughed.

“Hey, martial arts training I’ll have you know. Jason reckons it will help with my complete lack of grace.” 

“He obviously doesn’t know you that well.” John said, slipping the charm onto the chain he wore around his neck with Claudia’s ring on it. The rest of the pack reached forward and picked up a charm, all of them finding some way to keep it on their bodies at all times.

“Yeah.” Stiles said, sounding a bit sad about that. 

“So, how’s the set going? Are you still enjoying yourself?”

“Yeah, I am actually. We finished shooting the last episode today so Jason wants to go out partying.”

“Oh right. Does that mean that you might come home soon?” John asked, trying not to sound too hopeful.

“No.” Stiles said firmly, “I’ve actually been offered a role in this film, they’re shooting in Canada for the next few months and I said I’d go for it.” 

“Oh.” John said sounding disappointed. “Well, what’s it about?” 

“Erm, it’s an action movie, there’s a lot of running involved which I think I should be pretty good at by now.” Stiles replied. 

“Stiles!” A second voice shouted and Derek knew that it was Jason. “Dude! Where are you? Come on! I need to go out and get laid!” 

Stiles groaned with despair, obviously not wanting his dad to hear that.

“There you are dude! I’ve been looking for you everywhere. What are you doing?”

“I’m on the phone with my dad Jay.” Stiles replied.

“Shit!” Jason cursed, “Sorry! No, let’s not go out and get drunk. Let’s stay in. Watch some crap show. Eat ice cream?” 

“I think you’re making it worse.” Stiles hissed back and Jason snorted.

“Sorry dude. Here give me the phone.” There was the sound of a small scuffle, Stiles obviously trying to make sure Jason never got anywhere near the phone. 

“Ow!” Stiles squawked in indignation when Jason shoved him off the bed.

“Sheriff Stilinski Sir. I’m Jason. I don’t believe we’ve had the pleasure.” 

“Jason, are you looking after my boy?” John said quietly and Derek hoped that Jason would pale at that tone of voice. 

“Of course Sir.” Derek could almost imagine the smug grin on Jason’s face right now. “Stiles, well, he takes a bit of looking after, but I am most definitely trying my best. Although I can’t watch out for him all the way in Canada!” Jason whined and Stiles cursed under his breath. 

“Alright, give me back the phone.” Stiles said and Derek knew he was only half serious. 

“No.” Jason said to Stiles before turning his attention back to John, “Sheriff, seriously, what am I going to do without him? He’s like the other half of me, I’m going to be lost without him.” Jason said, laughing down the phone, teasing Stiles like only a friend could, “I mean, he’s leaving me for four months to go shoot an action movie! An action movie! Did he tell you that? He’s going to get so many injuries and fall over so much and I’ll be devastated if anything happens to my soulmate.” Derek knew that Jason was only saying it to wind Stiles up but he couldn’t help but be jealous. Stiles was his. He wanted him home.

“Ow!” Jason shouted and then Stiles voice came over the phone again. 

“Sorry. Jason has such a way with theatrics.” Stiles said, there were more sounds of a scuffle and then Stiles was laughing hysterically, “No!” He was shouting, “Jason, get off!” The laughter echoing down the phone, “Seriously dude!” There was another scuffle and then the sound of Jason’s muffled voice. 

“Get your ass off my face Stilinski!” 

“We agreed no more tickling.” Stiles said seriously, “I swear I will fart on you if you don’t agree right now.” He warned.

“Fine. No more tickling.” Jason said wearily. 

“Good. Now get out of my room. I’m talking.” Stiles said and there were a few mumbles from Jason before a door closed and Stiles let out a heavy sigh. “Sorry about that. He has no personal boundaries.”

“It’s okay.” John said, staring at Derek, it was then that Derek realized that there was blood dripping on the floor and he’d been clenching his fists so tightly that he’d dug his claws into the skin. “So you are having fun with him?” 

“Jason? Yeah, he’s a laugh.” Stiles replied, “He’s a good friend.” 

“So, nothing else? Just a friend.”

“Oh my god dad! Yes, just a friend. One, he’s like one hundred percent into girls. Like seriously, the amount he brings back here, it’s disgusting. Two, even if he liked guys, I most definitely wouldn’t be his type. And three, not that it even needs mentioning, but he’s really not my type either.” 

“So, when the papers say you’re living together?”

“As in friends. As in a pissed off ghost decided to trash my motel room and Jason decided it wasn’t a safe neighbourhood for me to be staying in because he seems to think it was a crazy fan even though I know it was a ghost because it threw me into a fucking wall, and then he basically dragged all my stuff from the room without my say so and moved me in here. Honestly, hiding the beastiary was one of the hardest things I’ve ever had to do.” Stiles rambled and Derek felt himself relax slightly, even if the mention of a ghost had his hairs standing on end.

“So when do you think you’ll be coming home?” John asked and there was a pause on the other end of the line.

“I don’t know.” Stiles replied, “I don’t think I’m ready to face all that yet.”

“Face what?” John asked in confusion.

“Everything. The pack. You. I don’t want to deal with it okay? Just give me some space to sort my head out.” Stiles said sadly and John sat in silence before finally clearing his throat.

“Okay, sure Stiles. You know we’re here whenever you’re ready to talk.” 

“Yeah. I know you guys love talking.” He said sarcastically and then before John could ask what he meant, “I’ve got to go. I said I’d meet someone and I’m already late.” Stiles said before cutting off the call. 

“Well, that was a bit better than usual.” Scott said optimistically and Derek rolled his eyes. The fact that Stiles had actually mentioned the pack a whole twenty seconds before hanging up, yeah, brilliant. 

Before Derek knew it a year had passed, they weren’t invited to his eighteenth birthday, although John called him and wished him happy birthday and Stiles had thanked him. Derek had seen pictures of the party, including one of Stiles leaving early, looking a little sad and heading home. He’d still kept up the calls to his dad which was nice, it was nice to hear him so excited, even if it was about the wrong things.

“Yetis dad! They have bloody Yetis here!”

“And what are they like?” John asked as calmly as he could.

“Well, imagine polar bears but bigger and more teeth and generally not very happy to find me accidently sticking my head in its neck of the woods.”

“Why would you do that Stiles?” John asked wearily. Stiles’ curiosity was going to get him hurt one of these days.

“I didn’t mean to. I had the day off and Mitch had recommended the woods for a walk. I just sort of found it.”

“You accidently found a Yeti?”

“Yeah. Mitch wasn’t overly impressed when he found out I’d broken my arm but I managed to keep quiet about it for a few days.”

“What?” John shouted, “Are you okay?” 

“Relax dad. It’s a broken arm, not the end of the world. Besides Monica gave me some great stuff to help with the pain and the healing.”

“Who’s Monica?”

“Oh, she’s a friend from LA. She gets the best stuff dad.”

“Like drugs?”

“No!” Stiles said offended, “Like herbs to help with the spells.”

“What spells?” 

“My spells. Anyway I’ve got to go. Mitch is glaring at me and I’m about to jump out of a helicopter so I should probably be paying attention.” Stiles said before disconnecting the call. 

Derek saw a photo a few weeks later showing Stiles with Monica, looking like they were in a middle of an argument and Stiles was touching Monica’s arm. Derek felt his stomach drop, it was the first photo he’d seen where Stiles had made physical contact with anyone other than Jason.

“So, you and Monica are a thing?” John said on their weekly call and Stiles laughed sadly.

“Nah. Just friends, or we were, I guess. I don’t know now.”

“Why? What happened?” John asked in curiosity and Derek was curious too.

“Oh, you know, spell caster stuff, she just, I don’t know dad,” He sighed heavily, “She, was talking about some stuff, that maybe, wasn’t like the healthiest thing. I don’t know, she tried to make a joke of it, but I’m worried about her.”

“Think you can try and fix it?” John suggested.

“I don’t think so.” Stiles said wearily, “I think, maybe give her some time.” He paused, “But anyway, nearly finished filming which is good. Canada is cold.” Stiles said and John laughed loudly.

Stiles was back in LA after finishing filming the movie in Canada and it was due out in a few weeks and the whole pack had pre-booked seats. They were all incredibly proud of Stiles, if only they could understand why Stiles had suddenly disowned them. Of course, Derek found himself throwing himself into his work and even rebuilding his own home in an attempt to keep his thoughts off Stiles. It didn’t work very well at all, but he did have a new home and a very high arrest record so it wasn’t all bad.

The worst moment had to be when Stiles was in an interview live, the reporter had somehow managed to find their names and discussed with Stiles his friends from back home and did he keep in touch. 

“Erm, no, not really.” Stiles replied awkwardly.

“So, Scott McCall, we heard you were best friends, like brothers, when you were younger. What happened?” 

“That’s kind of personal.” Stiles said quietly. The reporter still pressed him for an answer but they could all see how uncomfortable he was, “You know how it goes, people change, turns out they aren’t who you thought they were, or you aren’t who you thought you were to them.”

“Come on Stiles, there must be more to it than that. Everyone is dying to know.” 

“Well, you know what they say, somethings are better remaining a mystery.” Stiles smirked. “A man has to have some mystery about him right?”

“Well, you are incredibly mysterious. So come on, tell us one thing about Stiles Stilinski that no one else knows.”

“Erm, I can’t ski. Like, really, everyone knows how uncoordinated I am. But I tried skiing the other month and I ended up falling over and breaking my arm. It was not fun.” The reporter laughed but you could see she was really disappointed; she’d wanted more of a scoop.

“What about your other friends from back home, do you keep up with what they are doing?” The reporter pulled out a sheet of paper and Stiles paled visibly. “Lydia Martin? Isaac Lahey? Vernon Boyd? Erica Reyes? Allison Argent? Jackson Whittemore? Derek Hale? I’m told by a reliable source that you guys were all quite close once up on a time?” 

“Yeah, well, again, things change. Look, can we just, can we change the subject please?” Stiles asked and Derek felt visibly sick at how uncomfortable Stiles looked. Did he really hate them all that much? 

“Stiles!” Jason suddenly appeared on screen next to Stiles and threw an arm over his shoulder easily. “My buddy! Are you telling them about the next season? What we’re doing with your character?” 

“Erm, no, because Andy might actually murder me.” Stiles said a small smile on his lips.

“Oh my god,” Jason said, directing his attention to the reporter, “You are going to lose your minds. Stiles here is going to be showing you something that you’ve never seen before.” 

“Such as?” The reporter asked, staring at Stiles suspiciously.

“Well, he didn’t do all that training on the movie to get into shape and not show it off!” Jason said patting Stiles’ belly. Stiles blushed furiously. 

“Yeah, well, we’re still arguing on that one.” Stiles said.

“Come on, you know the tattoos won’t work with your shirt on.” Jason teased.

“Tattoos?” The reporter said, her interest clearing showing now.

“Yeah, well Dylan is going to have…” Stiles clamped a hand over Jason’s mouth and grinned at the reporter.

“I’m sorry. I think that’s all we’ve got time for now.” Stiles said, grimacing as Jason licked his hand. “Ew! Gross!” Stiles said, wiping his hand on Jason’s shirt. Jason grinned manically before leaning in and licking all the way up Stiles’ cheek to his temple. “What the hell man!” Stiles said but there was no real heat to his words. 

“I thought you liked sloppy kisses?” Jason teased. 

“Oh my god!” Stiles said, throwing his hands up in despair. “Seriously man, you have got to start with personal boundaries.” Stiles said before squawking in surprise when Jason literally jumped onto his lap and started licking him again. 

Stiles shoved him off, laughing when Jason fell on the floor. It was obvious to see that they were great friends and Derek couldn’t help but be jealous. Then all the stories had started coming out about were Jason and Stiles a couple? The fans had even come up for a name for them, Stason. Derek hated it. When Stiles called, John always asked Stiles what was going on with them and every time Stiles would insist that nothing was going on, Jason was just very affectionate. 

The worst thing was when Derek saw Jason in an interview without Stiles and all Jason would talk about was how brilliant Stiles was, how he was so down to earth and funny, and he didn’t get the whole celebrity thing, like he’d be just as happy at home than on a night out, and it was weird because everyone loved Stiles and thinks he’s amazing but Stiles couldn’t see it himself. Jason adored him. It really didn’t help the whole world thinking they were a couple.

The second series with Stiles in started not long after that and they went back to meeting every Friday night at John’s to watch the latest episode. Jason hadn’t been lying, apparently they wanted Dylan to show some magical abilities, tattoos that helped his powers, tattoos that glowed when he cast a spell. Which meant that Stiles had to get shirtless, a lot. Derek really wasn’t going to complain. Apart from the fact that everyone else around the country was watching it too. It wasn’t like he was jealous, but okay, yes he was jealous. Irrationally jealous. It didn’t help that everyone now wanted to know where Stiles got half his scars and Stiles would lie awfully about every single one of them. 

They went and watched the movie in the cinema and it was absolutely amazing. Stiles was an action hero. A loveable hero. Everybody in the country seemed to know his name and Derek would see the most random photos of Stiles wandering the streets by himself at night, pictures of him in clubs looking thoroughly bored while Jason partied, random girls falling all over him. But he was never actually with anyone. There were never any pictures of Stiles showing any serious interest in anyone and Derek couldn’t help being relieved even though he knew it would happen one day. Stiles was never physical with anyone other than Jason, yeah, sure, there were photos of people hugging him or touching him but Stiles always seemed to keep his hands to himself, the only person he hugged was Jason, it didn’t really help the jealousy Derek felt.

It was a few days after the latest episode when things took a bit of a twist. Derek and John had been called out to a store robbery with a man suspected to be armed and dangerous. Derek had gone in first, the little bell jingling as he entered, the cashier half crouched behind the counter, his eyes wide with fear, Derek wasn’t as scared, bullets weren’t as bad for his health after all. He hadn’t expected to find Lydia frozen in place a few feet in front of the man who was waving his gun around. 

John came in a few moments later, the stupid little bell going off again, Derek wanted to shoot the damn thing, and the gunman was clearly panicking at the sound. Lydia looked terrified, Derek wanted to comfort her but he was afraid that any movement would set the guy off. John was talking to him, hands held up clearly, obviously just trying to calm the man down when suddenly he started firing. Derek lunged forward, hoping to protect Lydia and John when he was thrown backwards. He heard the shots going off and was terrified when he opened his eyes that he would see Lydia and John both lying dead on the floor. Instead the robber was sliding to the ground, John had his gun drawn and both he and Lydia were completely and utterly unharmed. 

“What the hell?” John said looking down at his chest, Derek knew there should be bullets there, and he had no idea what had thrown him away from both of them. 

“Are you alright?” Derek said rushing over to both of them and patting them down, unable to believe his eyes that neither of them were hurt. Lydia was just staring at him in shock. 

“I could feel a scream coming Derek. We were about to die. I knew it. How are we not hurt? How are we not dead?” Lydia asked, her voice trembling. 

“I don’t know.” Derek staring at them both with a stunned disbelief. John’s phone started ringing and Derek knew the ringtone was Stiles’. 

“Hello?” John said, his voice laced with confusion, Stiles only called on Friday nights, it was like an unwritten rule.

“Are you okay?” Stiles’ frantic voice came over the phone, “Is Lydia? Are you both alright?” 

“I’m fine. We’re fine.” John replied calmly, “Son, we’re both fine.” 

“Good.” Stiles said seeming to calm down slightly, “God, I thought something awful had happened.” Stiles rambled.

“It did. We just got shot at. How did you know that?” John asked.

“You got shot at!?” Stiles squeaked. There was another voice nearby, muffled enough that Derek couldn’t quite hear the words. “Yeah, yeah, I’m coming.” Stiles replied, “Look dad, I’ve got to go. I’ll call you later okay?”

“Sure.” John said, “But how did you know?” He asked and Stiles laughed quietly.

“I told you they were for protection didn’t I? Just don’t go trying them out on a regular basis, the spells only hold for so long.” Stiles said before disconnecting the call. 

“What?” John said, frowning in confusion, slowly pulling out the chain he wore around his neck where the silver charm Stiles had sent him was still hanging, a faint glow coming from it. Lydia looked at it and then down to her wrist where hers hung on her charm bracelet, a glow coming from it too. Derek gaped in disbelief, he pulled his own charm out and saw that for some reason his wasn’t glowing. Whatever had just happened had something to do with the charms and Derek had never been so grateful in his life. 

John called in the shooting a minute later and they waited in silence, all of them lost in their own thoughts. Derek called a pack meeting for later in the day, he needed to see if the others had felt anything or if they’d witnessed their charms glowing. 

They all arrived at the Hale house just after five in the evening and Jackson spent the next hour just clinging tightly to Lydia, as if unable to believe that he could have lost her. It didn’t take long for them to figure out that no other members of the pack had felt the disturbance, which made it even worse that Stiles had. 

“Maybe we should test it again? Just, you know, to be sure?” Erica said waving a knife around slightly.

“No.” Lydia said firmly. “Stiles said they only hold for so long. Who knows how many times they can save our lives? How about we don’t waste them just to try and see if they work! We know they work. We’re alive because they work.”

“Speaking of Stiles…” Isaac said from where he was stood watching the television. There was a breaking news report on the channel and Derek turned the volume up.

“We’ve just been informed that actor Stiles Stilinski collapsed on set earlier today. He’s been taken to a nearby hospital where we are told he is undergoing tests. At present it’s not known what happened to the actor, although he is known to be quite accident prone, we’re hoping that it’s something minor rather than something more deadly. Stay tuned for more updates.” The news reporter said, smiling as she spoke. 

When Derek turned away from the television John already had the phone pressed to his ear, chanting for Stiles to pick up the god damn phone.

“What’s wrong?” Stiles said as soon as he answered the phone and Derek let out a small sigh of relief. Stiles didn’t sound too bad, just a little croaky.

“What’s wrong?” John shouted, “I’m watching the news and they’re saying you collapsed on set. Are you okay? Are you hurt?” 

“Oh my god, I’m fine dad.” Stiles said reassuringly, “I didn’t collapse. I just got a little lightheaded and had to sit down.” 

“What? Why?” 

“I was out last night and I didn’t get much sleep. I’m fine. Just tired.” Stiles said, Derek had to admit he sounded tired. 

“Stiles, you need to look after yourself. You’ve got to stop doing and start thinking okay?” John said, his voice flooded with concern.

“Look, I’ve got to go, Jay will be back soon and I want to pretend to be asleep so I don’t have to listen to him yell at me for being stupid too.” Stiles said before cutting off the phone. 

“We should fly out and see him.” Scott said as soon as the phone call ended. 

“I don’t think that’s a good idea.” John sighed heavily, “He’s barely talking to me. He definitely won’t want to talk to you guys. If we went out there and surprised him, it would probably just send him even further away.”

“I wish he’d just talk to us.” Lydia said frustrated. “I wish he’d just tell us why he doesn’t want to see us.” 

“We just have to give him time.” Derek said, hating to be the voice of reason when really he wanted nothing more than to find Stiles and hold him tight and never let go. “He’ll come home eventually.”

“What if you’re wrong?” Jackson asked and oddly it sounded like he actually missed Stiles.

“Then I’ll be wrong. Won’t be the first time, definitely won’t be the last. But I hope with everything I have that I’m right.” Derek replied and the pack went quiet at his words. 

“Come on. Let’s order some food in and watch Stiles’ film?” Boyd suggested and there were several nods of heads in agreement. 

Pictures came out the next day showing Stiles leaving the set holding a t-shirt to his nose, blood flooding down his face. When John asked Stiles about it he just said he’d fallen over when he’d got lightheaded and smacked his nose, it wasn’t a big deal.

A few weeks later and Derek was looking through the morning paper at the station, surprised to see a picture of Stiles looking incredibly uncomfortable, he was sat at a table and there were four other men sat with him. They were all big, broad men and Stiles was wearing his trademark smirk, one that said he was absolutely terrified but trying not to show it. Derek didn’t like it, not at all. He wasn’t sure what to do about it when John motioned to him from his office door.

“Stiles, just calm down okay? Derek is here now.”

“Fine.” Stiles’ voice sounded stressed, Derek could tell it was because he didn’t want to speak to him. “So I bumped into some werewolves last night.” Stiles went silent for a moment before seeming to take a deep breath and continuing. “Anyway, they wanted to know about the pack. They were on about coming out to see you guys and not in a friendly way.”

“What did you tell them?” Derek tried not to growl, this was the first time in nearly eighteen months that he was actually speaking to Stiles and it was about another pack of werewolves.

“I didn’t tell them anything.” Stiles hissed angrily, “I’m calling to warn you. I think I managed to talk them out of it. But you need to be prepared in case they don’t stick to their word.” 

Derek was silent for a moment, trying to figure out what he could possibly say to that. 

“They didn’t hurt you did they?” John asked and Stiles let out a bitter laugh. 

“What do you think? They’re werewolves. Isn’t it like second nature to get all physical with the human?” Stiles said sarcastically and Derek growled at the thought of any of them laying a finger on Stiles. “Anyway. That’s why I was calling. Now you know.” He said firmly and Derek wanted to say thank you but before he could Stiles was already saying bye and disconnecting the call.

“Well, that could have gone better.” John sighed and Derek looked up at him slowly. “When are you going to admit to me that you are in love with my son?” John said and Derek reeled backwards in shock. He hadn’t been that obvious had he? John was going to kill him! 

“I don’t, I’m not, he’s not, just, no.” Derek said, his surprise making sure he couldn’t get any kind of sentence out. 

“Yeah, sure, okay. And the sky isn’t blue.” John said rolling his eyes. “I’d really hoped that Stiles would hear your voice and I don’t know,” He shrugged, “Actually decide to come home for Christmas or something stupid like that.” 

“Stiles doesn’t…” Derek started

“Don’t even finish that sentence.” John warned, “Stiles, he loved you, before he left, he was crazy about you. I’m surprised nobody else saw it, but I know my son, and he absolutely loved you. You’re no better, I see the way you watch his show, or read the articles, or the interviews, or scowl at those pictures. You love him. It’s obvious. And I just sort of hoped, that maybe, he’d still feel that way and he’d come home.” John said sinking into his chair. “I miss him.” 

“Me too.” Derek said after a moment, taking the seat opposite John. “All the time. I keep thinking that I should fly out and see him and convince him to come home, and then I think that I’ll probably just drive him further away. This is all my fault. If I’d have just been a bit more careful that night, Stiles wouldn’t have got hurt and he wouldn’t have left.”

“You don’t really think that was the reason do you? He’ll have had another reason. Stiles isn’t that stupid. He knows it was an accident.” John replied. There was a minute of silence, “So, what do we need to do about this wolf pack that may or may not be coming?” 

“I guess just be prepared. I’ll let the pack know to be on guard and hopefully Stiles will be able to give us a heads up if they do decide to come out here.”

“I can’t believe he moves hundreds of miles away and he still gets involved with all this crap.” John said glumly, standing up from his chair and indicating the conversation was over. 

Derek was on edge for the next few weeks, especially when he saw more pictures of Stiles with the same men from that photo, Derek knew they were the werewolves, sometimes there was only one of them, but usually there would be two or three, always in the background of any photos of Stiles. It was very rare to see him without them now. Derek hated it. Stiles was obviously involved with this other pack and it made Derek growl with frustration every time he thought about it. If Stiles hadn’t run away because they were werewolves, then he’d run because of them. It was them that he had the problem with. Derek couldn’t believe how hurt he’d felt at that realisation. 

Derek knew they’d be done with filming Stiles’ second season soon but he was trying not to get his hopes up that Stiles would be coming home. He’d mentioned to his dad that he’d been offered another film part and was considering taking it, but he wasn’t sure yet. 

It was Friday night and the whole pack was gathered at John’s to watch the latest episode to see how Dylan was going to get Jason out of his latest mess. Jason had been sent to hell by an evil witch and the episode ended with Dylan arriving too late to save him. Derek knew he wasn’t the only one with tears in his eyes. Derek wouldn’t ever admit just how much he enjoyed the show, how much he relished every opportunity to study Stiles. 

The episode had just finished when Derek heard a car door shut outside and then suddenly a rabbit fast heartbeat. 

“Stiles?” He said looking towards the door and suddenly every pack member turned to look at the door. John caught up a moment later and was striding towards the door when there was a quiet knock. 

“Stiles!” John said in surprise pulling Stiles into a tight hug, “What are you doing here? Oh my god, it’s so good to see you, kiddo. Wait, what happened?” John said. 

“Can I come in?” Stiles said nervously and John nodded before stepping back to let Stiles into the house. It was at this point that Derek got a whiff of another wolf and he only just managed to stop a snarl when a man stepped through the door behind Stiles. Stiles looked across and saw the whole pack and seemed to go even paler, his mouth dropping open in surprise. Derek spent the next minute just staring at Stiles, his cheek was bruised, his lip split and his whole body seemed to radiate pain. 

“Stiles?” John asked and Stiles blinked and turned towards his dad, “What’s going on son? Who’s this?” 

“Erm, yeah, this is Sam, he’s erm, he’s part of that pack I mentioned.” Stiles said awkwardly, rubbing a hand across the back of his neck and glancing at the floor nervously. Sam was easily two inches taller than Derek, and as broad as Boyd, he had light blonde hair and his face was fixed in a scowl, “I just, I wanted to talk to you about something. And, fuck, I didn’t expect you all to be here, fuck.” Stiles said nervously, pacing slightly. He smelled of fear and pain and Derek wondered what could possibly be that bad. Sam placed a hand on Stiles’ shoulder and Stiles stopped pacing to glance up at him.

“Just tell them, then we’ll go. You’ve got to be back on set at six.” Sam said in a deep voice.

“Hang on.” Scott said, “You only just got here Stiles. We want to talk.” Stiles frowned at him.

“Look, can we just, can we not do this now?” Stiles said, anxiety radiating from him. Derek wondered if Stiles really hated them all that much that he couldn’t even be in the same room as them. “I need to speak to dad.” 

“Sure kiddo. Whatever you want.”

“Oh sure.” Erica said sarcastically, “Whatever Stiles wants, Stiles runs away and we just let him go, he doesn’t want to see us and we stay away, he doesn’t want to talk to us and we let that go too. We’ll just wait around until Stiles decides we’re worthy of him speaking to us again shall we? Until we can actually fucking talk to him.” Stiles blushed brightly and Sam growled.

“Enough.” The man said and Derek fought the urge to flash his eyes and show the man who was the Alpha around here. Stiles cleared his throat awkwardly.

“Look, I’m here because,” He seemed to be really struggling to get his words out, “Because there’s a video going to come out in the news tomorrow and it’s not going to be very nice.” He said after a minute, refusing to meet any of their eyes. 

“And?” John asked.

“I want to ask you not to watch it.” 

“Stiles…” John pleaded.

“I know. I know I don’t have the right to ask any of you anything. I know that.” He said firmly, “But if you watch it, which you probably will. I wanted to let you know that I’m fine. I don’t want you to worry dad.” Stiles said and he was almost trembling, John reached out to touch him and Stiles flinched back from him, “I’m fine. Okay. I just didn’t want you to see it in the news without seeing me first. I’m fine.”

“Stiles, just tell me what’s going on, please.” John begged. Stiles refused to meet his gaze.

“I can’t. I just, I can’t. I, erm, I need to go. I just wanted you to know I’m okay, I’m okay and you don’t need to worry.” Stiles said already heading back towards the door. 

“Wait!” Derek said and Stiles paused for a second, “Just, Stiles, we need to talk.” 

“Really? You really want to ‘talk’ right now?” Stiles said, looking angry and Derek was surprised, why was Stiles angry at them? Oh yeah, because Derek had scratched him.

“Look. I just wanted to say that I’m sorry. For clawing you. It was an accident. You don’t need to punish the whole pack for that.”

“What?” Stiles said looking at him in confusion.

“When I scratched you that night. I didn’t mean to. It was an accident.”

“What scratch?” Stiles said, sudden realization spreading across his face, “You think I ran because I got a little cut when you saved me from a fucking witch?” 

Derek nodded at a loss for words. What other reason could Stiles have had?

“You know what Hale? Fuck you. I just really can’t deal with all this right now.” Stiles said, heading out of the door, Sam right behind him, Stiles turned on his heel glaring at Derek with outright hatred and pain, “You know I’ve been fucking terrified of coming back here, terrified of hearing that you guys need to talk to me, because how the fuck could I ever get you guys to change your minds? And I’ve been out there trying to prove that I’m okay, that I can manage, that I can handle anything that’s thrown at me. And then something fucking awful happens and I just want my dad to know that I’m alright and you come out with this shit! You actually think I would ever abandon the pack like that? You think I’d run away because of a little scratch? I fucking sent you guys protection charms, I made a deal with the fucking devil just to protect you. I’d never abandon you! We all know which way around it was. I thought that running could somehow change your mind, finally prove to you that I’m not a liability, that I’m more use than just bait. And I see now that that’s not ever going to happen. You know what? You lot are the most ignorant fucks I’ve ever met. I get it, I’m out of the pack, you don’t need to keep going on about how you need to ‘talk’ to me, I get it. I’m out. I don’t want to see any of you again. Got it?” Stiles said not waiting for a reply before racing to the car and letting Sam drive him away.

“What the hell was that?” Allison spoke in the stunned silence.

“What the hell did he mean he wouldn’t abandon us? That’s exactly what he did.” Erica said angrily.

“He’s out of the pack? He’s not coming back?” Isaac whispered sounding heartbroken. 

“This can’t be happening.” Lydia said, “What is going on?” 

“Guys,” Jackson said loudly, getting them all to shut up and turn to him, “I said that, I said that he wasn’t any use but bait. I was joking, but I said that.”

“What?” John said, glaring at him.

“I said it, the day Stiles left, the day we had the meeting at the loft, about telling him to have a back seat on stuff.” Jackson said looking suddenly horrified.

“No.” Derek whispered in denial, “He couldn’t have heard that, he couldn’t have.”

“He must have. That was my wording. That was exactly what I said. And you said he was a liability.” Jackson said and Derek paled.

“Shit.” Scott cursed, blushing brightly, “I erm, fuck, oh god, I fucked up, I fucked up so bad.” He said shaking, “I pocket dialled Stiles. I saw it later but I didn’t think anything of it and then he was gone and I didn’t think it mattered.”

“Wait!” John said, “So let me get this straight, Scott calls Stiles accidently, which by the way, how the hell do you even do that? You’re a wolf Scott, you should have heard it ringing!” John paused, taking a deep breath to try and control his frustration, “So, Stiles answers and hears us all talking about him. Saying that he’s a liability, that he makes good bait, that he isn’t as strong or as fast as you guys, that we’re going to put him on research duty and then he runs away to prove that he can cope?”

“No.” Lydia said angrily a minute later, “He heard half of it, he heard you saying that you would talk to Stiles, that you didn’t want him out with us anymore. He didn’t hear about being on research duty otherwise he would have just stayed and ignored you, we know Stiles isn’t good at listening to orders, he would have done whatever the hell he wanted. He heard that you didn’t want him and he ran because he thought you were going to kick him out of the pack. That’s why he hasn’t talked to us since. Because he’s been afraid that as soon as we talk he’s not going to be in the pack anymore. We all know Stiles runs from his problems, we all know he likes to ignore them until they go away.” The whole room went silent as they processed her words.

“How the fuck could we be so stupid!?” Erica demanded already storming over to the door.

“Where are you going?” Allison asked.

“I’m going to get Stiles back and then I’m going to kick the shit out of whoever did that to him.” Erica growled and the rest of the pack nodded in agreement, following her out of the house. 

Derek had never heard his heart pound so loudly before. How could Stiles think that they didn’t want him? How could he have ever thought that? They drove to the airport as quickly as they could but they didn’t make it in time to catch his plane. He was already on the way back to LA. 

“We’re following him though right?” Lydia demanded and Derek nodded, booking them all seats on the next flight out in four hours. 

“So what do you think is on this video that’s so bad he came home?” Boyd said from the seat next to him and Derek tensed, he’d tried to avoid thinking about that, tried not to think about what could have happened to Stiles. 

The flight was tense and much too long, Derek spent the entire time trying not to think about how hurt Stiles had looked, and not just physically, how hurt he’d smelt, how much they’d hurt him. He vowed to make it up to him as soon as he saw him. 

By the time they landed the video was already out, Derek saw flashes of reports on the televisions as they practically ran through the airport. He didn’t look, Stiles had asked them not to watch it and Derek would stick to this promise at least. They got a car out to the studios and Derek was surprised to see huge crowds of reporters at the main gate.

“What is going on?” Erica whispered into the silence. 

“How are we going to get through that?” Allison said nervously. Derek growled, there was no way that anybody was keeping him from Stiles right now. 

“Yeah, let’s do the whole scary Derek face.” Isaac set, his features settling into a scowl as they got out of the car. As they approached the reporters Derek could hear Jason talking and he sounded quite upset.

“Obviously I’m devastated that this has happened. Stiles is the absolute, most amazing person I’ve ever met and for this to happen to him, well, I’m gutted. I’m truly devastated and I’d really appreciate it if we could both be left alone at this time.”

“What about Stiles?” “Is he here?” “Is he on set?” “Will he be making a statement?” Various reporters called out. 

“Stiles is on set and he’s dealing with it brilliantly. He’s Stiles. Nothing is going to keep the guy down. Now, if you’d excuse me, I really need to be getting to work.” Jason replied, glancing up and suddenly locking eyes with John. Half the reporters seemed to notice his sudden shock and they turned to see John. 

“Mr Stilinski!” One of them shouted out, “How do you feel about all this?” John looked at them with disdain. 

“Sheriff Sir! Are you going to make sure the man who did this is brought to justice?” One of them shouted.

“If you’d excuse us, I’m just trying to get to my son.” John said, firmly pushing his way through the crowd, the pack right behind him.

“Sir! How is Stiles coping with this?” A different one spoke up.

“Stiles is fine.” John replied, “Now I’d like to get through please.” 

“Is he really? We’ve all seen the tape, it must be pretty horrific to deal with.” A third said.

“Stiles is fine.” John repeated. 

“Mr Stilinski! Your son has just been raped and you’re insisting that he’s fine?” One shouted from next to Derek.

“What?” Derek snarled at the same time as John and the reporter took a step away from them both.

“Erm,” He said nervously, “Stiles was raped, that’s what’s in the video.” The guy quivered slightly at Derek’s glare, “Erm, I thought you knew that.” 

“Out of my way.” John shouted and barged through the remaining reporters. Derek had serious issues in trying to keep control of his claws, he glanced back to see that the rest of the pack had it under control and one-by-one they nodded at him, swallowing hard but their eyes remained human and there were no claws or teeth. 

They were at the front of the crowd of reporters now, all of them still shouting questions about Stiles and his well-being. Derek was in a state of near panic. He’d driven Stiles away and now look what had happened. Stiles, his Stiles, his mate, had been raped. 

As soon as they got to the gate Jason waved at the security guard to let them through and then finally they were away from the reporters.

“Take me to Stiles. Now.” John growled and Jason actually shrunk away from him a little bit. 

“He’s, erm, he’s on set at the moment.” Jason swallowed nervously, licking his lips.

“Yes. I heard that. Now, take me to my son or I’ll find him myself.” John growled and Jason nodded quickly before turning around and motioning them to follow. 

Derek smelt Sam first and his wolf tensed slightly, part of him thought that at least Stiles had Sam around to protect him, although a fat lot of use that had been so far, the rest of him just screamed that he wasn’t there for Stiles, that he needed to protect Stiles from other wolves. 

“You’re not welcome.” Sam growled as soon as they approached the door to the set. Jason gulped from next to them. 

“I’m here to see my son. You’re not stopping me.” John replied angrily. 

“He doesn’t want to see you. He made that perfectly clear last night. Now, you’re trespassing on our territory. Leave.” Sam growled and Derek snarled right back at him. 

Jason looked between the two of them, seemingly terrified. 

“Erm, I’m just going to go to set.” He said nervously and dodged around Sam, shutting the door quietly behind him. 

“We need to talk to Stiles.” Lydia said.

“He’s not your pack. You’re not welcome.” Sam repeated.

“Listen buddy, Stiles will always be pack. So why don’t you move out of the way before I make you move?” Isaac snarled and Derek couldn’t help but be a little surprised, he’d never heard such anger from Isaac before. 

“Will he always be pack though?” Sam smirked, “Funny, my Alpha has offered him a position in our pack, one that far outweighs any position in your pack.” 

Derek growled again. 

“Stiles is ours.” He said through gritted teeth.

“I don’t think so.” Sam snarled, “You let him slip through your fingers, we won’t be making the same mistake.”

Just as Derek was about to slam Sam through the wall Jason reappeared with Stiles right behind him taking in the scene and sighing heavily.

“Alright, I got this. Jason, go back inside.” Jason looked like he was about to argue when Stiles glowered at him and he retreated. “Sam, go tell Percy that the pack is here. I don’t want him being pissed if he smells other wolves in the area.” Sam snarled but then disappeared inside. Stiles took a deep breath and then turned to look at them. “What are you doing here!?” Stiles hissed. “I told you that I didn’t want to see you again. Just leave. Go away!” He said, already turning to go back inside the building.

“Stiles,” Jackson pleaded and Stiles glanced to him in confusion, it was obvious he didn’t expect Jackson to use that tone of voice with him, “We weren’t going to kick you out, we’d never kick you out. Derek wanted you to stick to research, where you couldn’t get hurt.” Stiles looked at them in disbelief. 

“No.” Stiles said quietly. 

“It’s true.” Lydia insisted, “You honestly think we’d ever want to lose you?” 

“I don’t believe you.” Stiles said, “I know what I heard.”

“But you only heard part of it.” Scott said sadly, “We wouldn’t kick you out. We need you. You make us whole.” 

“I,” Stiles paused, looking at them with eyes full of fear, he looked like he was about to speak when the door opened behind him.

“Stiles, sorry buddy, but erm, Andy wants you back on set.” Jason said.

“Can you give me five minutes?” Stiles replied.

“Not really. He’s having a major hissy fit because we’ve got to get finished today and we’re behind and you know, we still need to talk.” Jason said reaching out to touch Stiles’ arm. Stiles deliberately moved out of his reach. 

“Fine.” He said, running his hands through his hair, “Fine! Just, fuck. Right, okay. You guys can wait inside if you want. Let’s go get this scene finished.” He said, not looking any of them in the eye and brushing past Jason to get to the set. 

“You can wait in here.” Stiles said opening the door to a large room. “I’ll be back in a bit.” Stiles said before shutting the door. 

Derek studied the room, it was pretty basic, down to earth, Derek imagined that Jason’s room would be a lot bigger and more done up. He was pacing nervously, he didn’t want to let Stiles out of his sight. He could see the rest of the pack were just as nervous. 

“Hey, you can come out to the set if you promise to stay back?” Jason said poking his head through the door. Derek nodded firmly and they all traipsed through the halls to the set. 

Stiles was already on set, talking with an older man who looked quite serious. 

“So, we’ve just got the last couple of scenes to shoot, obviously you’re still going to bring Jason back from hell, we’ll use the touch up to edit out most of the bruising, but I thought it might be a good idea to leave your shirt on for this, keep the work to a minimum.” The man said, not unkindly.

“Sure.” Stiles said nodding, a serious look on his face.

“Oh my god,” Isaac squealed from next to him, “Dylan’s going to save Jason from hell, how awesome is that?”

“Shut up Isaac.” Derek said quietly, “We don’t want to get thrown out.”

“You sure you’re up for this kid?” The man said.

“Always Andy.” Stiles said, a smirk on his face, “Just tell me what you need me to do.”

“Alright, well, you’ve got the latest script, you had a chance to read through it?” Andy asked, Stiles nodded, “Look, Stiles, I’d understand, you know, if you needed some time off.” 

“I’m fine. This is the final episode anyway. Another couple of scenes and we’ll be done. I can have a complete break down when the jobs done.” Stiles said, trying, rather successfully, to hide his pain behind a smile. 

“That’s my boy. You change your mind, you need anything at all, just let me know okay?” Andy said smiling at him and Stiles grinned at him.

“Sure thing boss.” Andy laughed.

“Alright people, let’s get to work.”

The next few hours passed in a blur, Derek didn’t know how Stiles did it, he was focused and in control, his acting was amazing and it was even better watching it here than on the television. It came to the final scene when Dylan and Jason were about to escape hell, the way out only a few hundred feet ahead of them, Dylan was dragging Jason, the strain of it causing him to wince from injuries he’d got in a fight a while earlier and the whole time Dylan was reassuring Jason, saying they’d get out, they wouldn’t be stuck here, he promised they’d make it out.

“Dyl, just, just go without me.” Jason panted, dropping to the floor. 

“Don’t be stupid, this isn’t some stupid army movie. You don’t say stuff like that.” Dylan replied, pulling Jason back to his feet with every bit of strength he had left.

“Dylan, please, look at me, I’m done. I’m not going to be strong enough to make it out of here. I can’t let you die with me. You need to leave without me.”

“I’m not leaving you.” Dylan roared with anger, “Jay, look at me, do I look like I’m all sunshine and rainbows right now? No! I look like crap, I feel even worse. But I’m not quitting and that means you don’t get to quit either. Got it?” 

“I can’t. I haven’t got the strength left.” Jason whimpered.

“Well, take some of mine then.” Dylan said, a look of fear in his eyes but still baring his neck and bringing Jason’s mouth close to it. “Take it Jay, and then let’s get the hell out of here.” 

Jason paused for a moment, Derek assumed it was so they could add in the effects of the vampire teeth, and then he surged forward, biting at Stiles’ neck. 

“Enough.” Dylan said a minute later, “Jason, enough.” He said, his voice slurred, his eyes fluttering slightly. “Jay…” His voice trailed off and he went lax in Jason’s grip. Jason pulled away a minute later.

“Dylan?” Jason said his voice breaking, “Dyl?” He shook Dylan, “Dylan, wake up!” He shouted. “Please, wake up!” Jason screamed, “Dylan!” He screamed. 

Isaac had tears running down his cheeks, as did most of the pack members.

“And cut!” Andy shouted. Stiles sat up slowly, grimacing as he stood up and rubbed at his neck.

“I swear to god, if I have a fucking hickey I’m going to kill you Jay.” Stiles grumbled, Jason just looked at him guiltily, “Oh my god!” Stiles said throwing his hands up, “Seriously? You think I don’t have enough going on right now? I really can’t deal with your shit too!” He said, striding off to the toilets. Derek couldn’t help but be a bit angry at Jason, and more than that, he wanted to go up to Stiles and cover Jason’s small hickey with his own, show everyone who Stiles really belonged to.

“I think we’ll call that a wrap, don’t you think?” Andy said awkwardly, “We’ve got everything we need.” He pulled Jason aside, “And, you, boy, whatever the hell happened between you two, you need to fix it. I want Stiles back next season, if he can’t work with you then I’ll be looking for a replacement.”

“I’ll fix it.” Jason promised, “He’s just having a hard time. I’ll sort it. I promise.”

“Alright. Well then,” Andy said louder, “I guess that’s it folks, just the final scene with Stiles, closed set, everyone else pack your stuff and we’ll see you in a few months.”

“What?” Isaac squealed, “No! You can’t leave it there!” He said, drawing attention from the people nearby. 

“Who are you?” Andy said turning to look at them.

“Oh, these guys,” Jason said quickly, running across to stand in front of them, “These are some friends of mine, I said we’d all go out for a drink when we wrapped. Guess that time is now.” Jason said, hurrying them towards a door.

“Wait,” Scott said, “What about Stiles?” He said glancing back over his shoulder.

“Stiles has a last scene to do. It’s closed set which means only the people of absolute importance can be there. It’s fine. Come back to ours, I’m sure you guys need a place to crash for the night and we’ve got plenty of space.”

“But what about Stiles? Won’t he need a lift back?” Lydia asked.

“No. Sam won’t let him out of his sight. He’ll come home in a bit. In the meantime, I think we need to talk.” There was a moment of silence as the pack studied Jason, “Look, the thing is, have you seen the video?” He sighed.

“No.” Derek said firmly, “Stiles asked us not to watch it so we haven’t.” 

“Okay.” Jason said, looking uncomfortable, “Well, then, I’ll tell you the worst points when we get home, because right now he needs people around him, even if he won’t admit it.” Jason supplied, “And if I’m honest, we’re not having the best couple of days and if there’s any chance he’ll talk to you guys instead of me then you need to know what happened.”

Everyone nodded their heads in agreement, none of them really wanted to know, but they had to if it meant helping Stiles. 

Jason got in the car with them and directed them back to the apartment where there were even more reporters camped outside. 

“Jesus.” Derek mumbled under his breath, “Is this what it’s always like?” 

“Nah. It’s usually not so bad. But, obviously, this whole thing coming out is a big deal and they all want the story first.” Jason said taking a deep breath and fixing an easy grin on his face before getting out of the car and into the swarm of reporters.

They managed to make their way to the apartment easily enough and Jason hadn’t been exaggerating when he said there was plenty of space. It was like a mansion, a whole floor just for Stiles and Jason. Derek couldn’t even tell Stiles lived here, there was no evidence of him anywhere other than his scent throughout the whole place. It was strongest at the back of the apartment, coming from a closed door. Derek guessed that was Stiles’ room and decided not to pry.

“Alright. You best all sit down for this.” Jason said and they all took a seat. “Erm, okay, let’s get through this as quickly as we can and save your questions for after?” Everyone nodded, “Okay, good, erm, right, yeah, so basically, Stiles got drugged. He was out by himself and his drink got spiked and the guy who, erm, fuck,” Jason gritted his teeth, “The guy who raped him made a big thing about the fact that he’d drugged him. He had Stiles on a bed,” Jason paused, swallowing, going paler by the second. 

“It’s okay.” John said, “If you can’t talk about it, we understand.”

“How fucked is that?” Jason sobbed, “Stiles gets raped and I can’t even talk about it! I should be the strong one in this. Instead Stiles is keeping his shit together and I’m falling apart.” Jason said, sinking into one of the available seats. 

Derek looked at the pack, all of them looking to him for advice, Derek swallowed heavily.

“Alright. Jason, it’s fine. If you can’t tell us, then we’ll watch it. If it can help Stiles, then it’s worth it, right?” He asked and Jason gulped back a sob.

“I’m sorry. It’s just, he’s my best friend and I let him down. I let him down so badly.” Jason sobbed, fiddling with a chain around his neck.

“It’s fine.” Lydia said, patting him on the arm to reassure him. “Have you got a computer?” She asked gently and Jason nodded, gesturing to the table behind him where a laptop was clearly visible. 

“Alright, well, I’m not going to ask any of you to watch this.” Derek said, “But I’m going to. If Stiles went through it, then I can at least witness it, right?” He asked, it sounded more like he was trying to convince himself more than any of them. 

“Right.” John said firmly, standing up next to the table. “Let’s do this then, before he gets back.”

“Once is enough for me. Just, erm, just shout me when you’re done.” Jason said retreating into his room. Derek glared at the table, gritting his teeth and squaring his shoulders. If Stiles could live through it then so could he. 

He noticed the whole pack doing the same thing, he hated the fact that this was going to upset them, he wanted to protect them from it, but they needed to know what they were dealing with.

The video started and Derek immediately felt sick. Stiles was lying on a bed, his eyes only half open, trying to focus on the man behind the camera.

“Welcome, ladies and gentlemen, to what is going to be one of the most talked about videos of the next century.” The man said and Derek gritted his teeth as Stiles tried and failed to get up from the bed. “This, as I’m sure you are all aware, is Stiles Stilinski, one of the most popular actors of our time.” He paused, “Say hi Stiles.” 

“Fuck you.” Stiles replied, his voice slurred, his whole body swaying as he finally managed to get himself sitting upright, evidently fighting with everything he had to keep his eyes open.

“Now as you may notice, Stiles is sounding a little worse for wear right now, that’s because I slipped something in his drink. You never can be too careful. I’m a little worried that nobody noticed he was so far gone after one soda.” The man let out a little laugh before he stepped out from behind the camera, wearing a balaclava over his face so he couldn’t be identified. He shoved Stiles backwards and he fell back on the bed uselessly. “But, Stiles and I, we’re going to have a lot of fun before the night is out.” The man grinned, pulling Stiles’ t-shirt over his head.

“Get off me.” Stiles slurred, “Don’t fucking touch me.” He said, trying to push the guy away with his hands.

“Come on now Stiles, don’t be like that.” The man taunted, climbing on top of Stiles, straddling him.

“Fuck off you bastard.” Stiles said, glaring at him, the determination it must have taken to concentrate that much, made Derek grimace. Stiles was stubborn, he’d never been more grateful for that. The guy started to undo Stiles’ jeans and Stiles lashed out, punching him in the face. It wasn’t a strong punch, his limbs still too uncoordinated to do anything other than feel like jelly. The guy scowled and punched Stiles back, splitting his lip open and Stiles let out a little gasp of pain. 

“You know I was going to play nice but now I don’t think I will.” The man said and he punched Stiles again and again, hitting him hard and fast and without remorse. Stiles was curled into a ball, trying to protect himself as best as he could in his drugged state. 

“You punch like a pansy, I’ve had harder back rubs.” Stiles coughed between breaths and Derek sighed, Stiles never learned to keep his mouth shut.

The guy lost it then, flipping Stiles over and smashing his head into the headboard. The man grabbed a glass from the side table and poured its contents down Stiles’ throat. Stiles coughed and spluttered and tried to spit it out.

“No. Come on. Swallow it. You’ve still got a little bit too much fight left in you. Let’s get rid of that too.” The man taunted as he held Stiles’ mouth closed and pinched his nose, forcing him to swallow the spiked water.

“You know what Stiles? I’m going to really enjoy fucking you, you smart mouthed little shit.” The man raged, punching Stiles again when Stiles tried uselessly to throw him off. When Stiles went to shove him away again the man sighed heavily and got off Stiles, disappearing off camera. Stiles lay on the bed in his boxers, panting heavily, his eyes filled with fear as he tried again to get up, knowing that his body wasn’t working as it was supposed to. The second lot of drugs seeming to take quick effect as Stiles couldn’t seem to do anything more than flutter his eyes. 

“Help.” Stiles said, his voice still slurred and quiet. The guy reappeared in the frame, rope in his hands, grinning wickedly as he dragged Stiles up the bed and tied his hands to the headboard. “Help!” Stiles said again, his eyes rolling in his sockets as he tried to keep himself awake and together. 

“No use boy. Nobody can hear you scream.” The man grinned.

“We’re not in space. Watch better films.” Stiles retorted, his voice trailing off slightly. The man slapped him and Stiles’ eyes jerked open.

“Oh no. I want you awake Stiles. I don’t want you to forget one second of this.” The man said pulling his own trousers off. 

“No!” Stiles mumbled, “Don’t! God, please don’t!” He said, and Derek could imagine how fast Stiles’ heart had been beating at that point. “Help!” Stiles tried again, “God, someone help me!” He said, his voice almost non-existent now. “Please.” Stiles whispered as the guy flipped him over and pulled his boxers down. “Dad! Scott! Derek!” Stiles mumbled, so quiet, Derek wasn’t sure anyone who wasn’t a wolf would have heard it. “Please help me. Please. Derek.” Stiles mumbled again and then the guy was positioning himself between Stiles legs and forcing his way forwards, a whimper of pain came from Stiles.

Derek couldn’t watch the rest, he couldn’t. His stomach was rolling already, he thought he was going to throw up, the rest of the pack didn’t seem to be fairing any better. They all looked to be in physical pain at the sight in front of them. How could Derek have fucked up so badly? How could he have driven Stiles away and then something like this happened to him? This was all his fault. God, how could Stiles have even thought he could deal with his alone. 

They watched it to the end. The man grinning at the camera and the bloodied, unmoving Stiles on the bed before the video ended. Scott had run for the toilet part way through. Derek could hear him still throwing up now, Allison offering words of comfort to him. Stiles had mumbled for help a few more times during the video. It was obvious that he was completely out of it, but not enough that he didn’t know what was happening, that he didn’t know he needed help, he whispered for his dad, for Scott, for Derek, for the whole pack, for anyone. It broke his heart. He should have been here. Instead he was hours away, too wrapped up in his own issues. 

“Are you done?” Jason said, poking his head out of his room, looking at the grim faces around the table and deciding that they were. Jackson was clinging tight to Lydia who was crying heavily into his shoulder. Derek could only be grateful that John, Lydia and Allison hadn’t been able to hear Stiles’ desperate pleas. Erica obviously could and she looked like she was ready to murder anyone who got in her way, Derek couldn’t help but agree with her. This bastard would pay, Derek would string him up and pull his entrails out bit by bit, keep him alive for as long as physically possible, make him scream in agony over and over again. 

Scott reappeared from the bathroom, white as a sheet and shaking, Allison holding him up carefully. 

“We’re going to kill him.” Allison said determinedly, there was no question in her voice but the rest of the pack nodded anyway. 

“I’ll kill him myself.” John said, pushing away from the table and staring at the laptop like it had personally offended him.

Derek was just about to reply when there was a knock on the door, one quick inhale told him it was other wolves. The rest of the pack must have smelt them too and they moved around the room, standing behind Derek, almost automatically. Jason looked at them oddly but didn’t say a word when he went across to the door and opened it.

“Hi Percy.” Jason said, his happiness sounding forced to all of them, “Stiles isn’t home yet. You want to come back later?” 

“No. We’ll wait.” Percy said stepping into the room with two other wolves behind him a smirk on his face. “Derek Hale I presume?” He said glaring at Derek, Jason looked between them with confusion.

“Sorry, do you guys know each other?” 

“Oh, only what Stiles has told us.” Percy said, smirking again.

“Well, unfortunately I haven’t had the same pleasure. You are?” Derek replied.

“My name is Percy Matthews, these are my,” He glanced at Jason, “Friends, John and Bobby.” Derek looked at the two betas behind him. All three of them were dark haired, tall and broad, Percy had dark green eyes whereas Bobby had blue and John had a dark hazel. “I believe you’ve already met our other friend Sam.” Percy said smirking.

“We have.” Derek replied. 

“Erm, you guys want a drink or something? Might be a while before Stiles gets home? You sure you don’t want to come back later?” Jason said uneasily, it was obvious that even he could pick up on the tension in the room.

“Oh, I’m sure he won’t be long.” Percy said smirking and just then Derek heard the sound of Stiles’ voice in the hallway. 

“…it’s always take, take, take with you guys. Honestly, can I not just have one night without all your crap?” Stiles complained, putting his key in the lock and walking into the room, Sam right behind him, before stopping dead at the sight in front of him and losing whatever colour he had.

“What are you all doing here?” Stiles said, looking horrified at the sight.

“Well, you see, I thought it might be a good idea for you to talk to your dad so I invited them here to stay the night.” Jason said, waving at them with wide hands as if Stiles hadn’t already seen them. 

“Right, and you’re here because?” Stiles said glaring at Percy.

“Oh, well, perhaps that’s something we can discuss in private?” Percy replied, a small smile on his lips.

“For fucks sake!” Stiles said throwing his hands up in the air and storming to the fridge to grab a drink. “Right, sure, Jason, can you give us some space please?”

“Erm, yeah, sure, I know you’re like super busy, but when you get some time, can we talk?” Jason asked and Stiles rolled his eyes. 

“Yes. Fine. Next on my fucking to do list.” He said and Jason nodded tightly before disappearing to his room. As soon as his door was shut Stiles rounded on Percy. “What are you doing here?” He snarled.

“Well, firstly, I came to meet the pack, show them who’s territory they were intruding on.” 

“They’ll be gone again soon.” Stiles snarled, holding up a hand to silence Derek when he opened his mouth to interrupt. 

“I’m sure they will.” Percy smirked. “Secondly, of course, I came to discuss our little agreement and see if you had reached a decision.”

“I’ve got a few months yet.” Stiles said narrowing his eyes.

“Yes, well after recent events,” He glanced at the laptop and Stiles looked at it once, up at Derek and then sighed heavily, rubbing a hand over his eyes, “I’ve decided we should probably move the deadline up.”

“That wasn’t our agreement.” Stiles said tensely and Percy smirked.

“Yes, but seems so it’s evident that you can’t protect yourself as previously stated, that the sooner we resolve this the better.”

“Jesus Christ!” Stiles shouted, shocking them all into silence, “I can’t fucking do this right now Percy!”

“Well tough shit!” Percy shouted, his eyes flashing red, Derek’s flashed in response to the threat, nobody shouted at members of his pack apart from him and nobody got to shout at Stiles like that. Not ever. 

“You said I had until my birthday to decide!” Stiles argued back.

“Would someone tell me what the hell is going on!?” John shouted and Derek turned to look at him in surprise. Stiles groaned as Percy smirked again.

“Oh, you must be Stiles’ father.” 

“I am. Now, tell me what this agreement is with my son.” John demanded.

“Of course.” Percy smirked.

“No.” Stiles said at the same time.

“Stiles.” John said using his warning tone, “Tell me what’s going on. Please?” Stiles groaned.

“Fine.” He took another swig of his drink, “You know that pack that I mentioned might come to Beacon Hills with not the nicest intentions in mind?” 

“Yes.” Derek said.

“Ta-da!” Stiles said, jazz hands directed at Percy and his pack who flashed smiles at Stiles’ antics.

“So, you made an agreement to stop them attacking us?” Derek said, just to make sure he was following the conversation.

“Yes. Exactly. So,” He said, rolling onto the balls of his feet, “I help them with a few things from time to time and they don’t attack you guys. It’s a win-win situation. You know, I help them with things that they might not know about and in return you guys get to stay in one piece.” Stiles grinned, he looked like a maniac with the bruises on his face and that stupid grin.

“I’m sorry what?” John said, obviously incredibly disturbed with this idea.

“Exactly as it sounds Mr Stilinski. Your son has been a huge asset to our pack so far and we intend to keep it that way.” Percy said dangerously.

“You honestly think your pack could tear us apart?” Derek snarled.

“Oh no, probably not all of you. But I’d definitely kill one or two of you. And Stiles, here,” Percy slung an arm around Stiles’ shoulder and Stiles flinched, “well, he doesn’t want anything to happen to any of you, so we reached an agreement.” Percy smirked and Derek snarled.

“And what does this agreement have to do with his birthday?” Scott asked.

“Oh, well, that’s the second part of the agreement.” Percy said, looking at the three beta’s behind him. “You see, as I’m sure all the wolves in this pack are aware, Stiles has a very special kind of scent doesn’t he?” Derek tensed, a growl threatening to tear from his throat. “Now, Mr Stilinski, I’m sure you’re not aware of this, but Stiles has a very lovely scent, one that makes him a great potential mate for any of my wolves.”

“A potential mate?” John echoed in confusion.

“Oh, yes, of course, let me explain. You see some wolves believe in the idea of trues mates, like a soul mate as it were, the other half to you, but it’s very rare to find a true mate. However, throughout a wolfs life they meet a handful of people who smell like potential mates. Stiles smells like a potential mate to all of us, but since he’s made it perfectly clear that he’d rather get hung, drawn and quartered than even speak to me politely, and since I am not completely heartless I agreed to let Stiles decide which one of my three betas he wants as a mate instead.”

“What?” The entire pack screeched and Stiles flinched, scrunching up his eyes at the sudden noise.

“Stiles!” John shouted, “Please tell me you are not that stupid!” He screeched and Stiles winced.

“But,” Percy continued, “I think we can all agree that it’s better Stiles is mated sooner rather than later.”

“You can’t just change the agreement whenever you feel like it!” Stiles shouted, “You said I had until my birthday and I’m keeping to that. So, until then just get the fuck out of my house! OUT!” He shouted and everyone in the vicinity flinched. Percy held up his hands in surrender and took a few steps away from Stiles.

“Fine. But this isn’t finished Stiles. We’ll give you the weekend to cool down. I’ll expect you on Monday at the hotel otherwise I’m sure you don’t need reminding what could happen.” 

“Get out.” Stiles growled again.

“Perhaps you do need a reminder then?” Percy snarled and Stiles tensed, “It wouldn’t be a good idea to test my patience.”

“He said to get out.” Erica growled and Percy looked her up and down.

“Maybe she’ll be the first lesson Stiles.” Percy threatened.

“I’ll fucking be there on Monday.” Stiles growled, “Now just get out.” He said, striding to the door and holding it open for them to leave.

“One last thing if you recall?” Percy smirked and Stiles snarled, his whole body tensing before bearing his neck and allowing each of the betas to scent him. Derek was struggling not to attack each and every one of them. 

As soon as they were out Stiles slammed the door and then leaned up against it, his eyes closed, his face tense and almost sagging with exhaustion.

Allison cleared her throat and Stiles opened his eyes, looking at them slowly, refusing to meet any of their eyes, heading to the kitchen and picking up his drink.

“So, yeah, there is also that going on.” Stiles said nervously, fiddling with the hem of his jumper.

“You promised to mate with one of them!?” Scott shouted outraged.

“Can we just not do this right now?” Stiles said sounding defeated.

“Yes, we’re going to do this now!” John shouted, “You can’t just promise to spend the rest of your life with someone you don’t even know!”

“I can if it keeps you safe!” Stiles screamed back, his face flooding with colour. The room went silent. “Do you think I would have ever agreed to it if I had a choice? If he wasn’t threatening to fucking kill you? You think I could live with myself if anything happened to any of you and I could have done something to prevent it?” 

“Stiles,” Lydia said quietly, her voice soft, “We’re a pack, we watch each other’s backs. You didn’t have to do this.”

“Yeah, well I didn’t know that, did I? I thought you guys were going to kick me out. I thought it was the best solution because I’d be keeping you safe and you wouldn’t have to kick me out, I’d already be gone.”

Derek grimaced sadly, “We never should have had that meeting without you. I should have just admitted to you that I wanted to keep you out of harm’s way.” 

“Yeah, well, you didn’t and it’s done.” Stiles said, leaning back against the kitchen counter and looking completely and utterly exhausted.

“Look,” Derek said softly, “There’s been a lot to take in, a lot has happened in the last few days, why don’t you head to bed and we’ll talk in the morning?” Stiles looked up at him with surprise but he could see how grateful Stiles was. 

“Yeah.” Stiles said nodding and already heading towards his room, “There’s food in the fridge and drinks and stuff. You know, if any of you guys are hungry? Did you bring any spare clothes? I can get some brought up to you if you want?” He said already disappearing into his room, taking their silence as an admission to how unprepared they were.

“Well, that was a bit of a shock.” Isaac said, slumping into a chair. “How are we going to fix this?” He said a minute later.

Jason stuck his head out of the door, glancing around the room and locking eyes with John.

“Have they gone?” 

“Yeah.” 

“Thank god. I hate those guys.” Jason said, glancing around the room again, “Is Stiles, erm, did he go to his room?” 

“Yeah.” Isaac replied.

“Oh, erm, right, I’m just going to…” Jason trailed off awkwardly, heading towards Stiles’ room and knocking on the door. “Stiles? Can I come in?” He disappeared into the room and Derek leaned his head in his hands listening in even when he knew he shouldn’t be. He knew the rest of the wolves were doing it too, Erica was muttering a word-by-word account to Lydia and Allison next to her and John was listening in behind them, trying to look like he wasn’t.

“Hang on one sec, I’m just texting Jen.” Stiles said, then took a deep breath, “Alright what do you want dude?” Stiles said, sighing heavily. 

“I just, I wanted to talk. Please?” Jason pleaded, Derek assumed that Stiles nodded because Jason continued, “I’m sorry. God, I’m so sorry Stiles. I’m sorry this happened. I’m sorry it happened to you. I’m sorry that this is all my fault.”

“Your fault? How’s it your fault?” Stiles said, his voice sounding tense.

“Because of what happened Stiles, because I drove you out of the house and you were out by yourself and that gave him the chance to grab you.”

“What?” Stiles said, his tone sounding deadly and Jason spluttered. “Did you spike my drink Jason?” 

“No!” Jason squeaked.

“Did you drug me and take me to some awful room and beat me and rape me?” Stiles asked, slightly calmer this time.

“No.”

“Did you video it and then send me a copy just a few hours before it would go out on the fucking internet?”

“No.”

“Exactly. This isn’t your fault. It isn’t mine. The only person to blame is the sick fuck that did this. Now, if I’m dealing with it, you deal with it. Okay? You get angry and you hate him and you want him fucking dead. But you don’t blame yourself. You couldn’t have known what was going to happen.” Stiles said and Derek couldn’t help but feel his heart flutter in his chest. Stiles was so good with advice; he’d missed it so much. It was good he had a friend like Jason here.

“But I kissed you!” Jason shouted and the whole apartment flinched. They didn’t need supernatural hearing to hear that. “I kissed you and you stormed out and it’s my fault!”

“Christ almighty! Keep your fucking voice down!” Stiles hissed. “It’s not your fucking fault! Yeah you shouldn’t have kissed me. I don’t know what the fuck that was about. I still don’t. But it’s not your fault! And right now, I really don’t need to be dealing with your feelings, okay? I’m sorry, but I can’t at the moment. I’m a fucking mess. My head is all over the place. I’m trying to deal with the fact I got raped, I’m trying to sort shit with Percy, with my family, with my whole life right now! I don’t need you feeling guilty over something that is not your fault!” Stiles shouted, panted loudly with his anger.

“Jay,” Stiles said a moment later, calmer, “You are one of my best friends. You’re like a brother to me. I love you. But not like that. Never like that. You understand that, right?” 

“Yeah.” Jason said sadly, “Yeah, I get it. I was, I was wrong dude. I don’t know why I thought you’d ever be interested.”

“Jason, you’re an amazing guy. Honestly, you’re brilliant. Anybody would be lucky to date you. But you know I don’t think of you like that. I’ve seen you in way too many compromising positions to ever fancy you.” Stiles joked and Jason let out a small laugh, “Besides man, you know I don’t date. Before this whole mess I’d barely done more than make out with a few random people.” There was a pause and Stiles took a deep breath, “So, can we please pretend like this incredibly awkward conversation didn’t happen, that the even more awkward kiss never happened and just go back to being bros?” Stiles asked and Jason laughed.

“Sure. Yeah. You know, you can do better than Sam though, right?” Jason said and Stiles snorted, “Seriously, Sam’s a dick.”

“Yeah. I know that.” 

“So don’t fucking date him then. Tell him you need time to yourself right now, which yeah, that’s definitely true, ditch his ass.” Jason said and Derek found himself nodding in agreement.

“It’s not that simple.” Stiles said wearily. “Look, man, can we just call it a night? I’ve had a shitty few days and I really need to sleep.” 

“Yeah. Sure.” Jason said slowly and Derek tried to look slightly more casual when Jason exited the room a minute later and looked at them sheepishly. “So, erm, how much of that did you hear?” He asked and Erica glared at him.

“I thought you were straight?” 

“Erm,” Jason said blushing, “Well, erm, not all the time.” He grimaced, “God, that sounds awful. I mean most of the time, girls are definitely my thing, but erm, sometimes, I meet a nice guy. Stiles is a nice guy. He’s the best guy. He’s, erm, well, he’s awesome. But he’s also very clearly just put me in my place. Which is fine. I kind of knew I never stood a chance anyway. But, I don’t know, I just didn’t want to see him with Sam. I didn’t want him to think he didn’t have other options.” Jason blushed again, “God, that sounds even worse. I just, I, erm, I think he’s amazing and I didn’t want him selling himself short and if there was even the slightest chance he was interested in me, I just couldn’t miss that right?” 

Surprisingly it was Scott that nodded in agreement. 

“We understand. If it makes you feel better, we don’t like Sam either.” Scott smiled tentatively. 

“Erm, well, that’s good I guess. Look, I’m going to head out and grab a drink. You’re welcome to join me if you want?” He said slowly but it was evident that he wanted some time to himself.

“No. It’s fine. You go ahead. We’ll be here when you get back.” Lydia said and Derek and Jason both smiled at her gratefully. Jason grabbed his keys and coat and disappeared through the door a moment later. 

The whole pack let out heavy sighs. 

“So, long day.” John said a minute later. 

“Yeah.” Jackson sighed. 

“We should get our heads down. No doubt tomorrow will be full of action.” Allison said and Derek couldn’t help but nod in agreement.

“We’re going to fix this though, right?” Isaac asked worriedly, “We’re not going to let Percy get Stiles are we?” 

“Of course not.” Boyd said, speaking up. “Stiles belongs with us. He’s not going anywhere.” Derek smiled, it was nice to hear the reassurance from his usually quiet beta.

They helped themselves to the food in the fridge and a half an hour later there was another knock on the door. Derek answered it suspiciously and found a young woman stood there pulling two clothes racks behind her. 

“Hiya.” She said cheerily, “Stiles asked me to bring you some stuff up. He said you’d come out unexpectedly?” She said, pushing the clothes racks into the room.

“Erm, yeah, thanks.” Derek said, glancing to the rest of the room, his voice unsure.

“Oh my god!” Lydia said jumping up from the couch, “Is that a Chanel coat?” 

“Yes it is!” The girl grinned, “Glad to see someone has taste. I keep telling Stiles he should let me dress him just once but, no, he just grabs t-shirts from the nearest store and wears them until they are ruined. Honestly! He has no sense of fashion.”

“Well, I do.” Lydia said, browsing through the racks. “Can I borrow this one?” She said holding out a dress. The girl laughed.

“Honey, Stiles bought them for you. He said he didn’t know what you guys would want so just to bring up an assortment of things, there’s some guys clothes over here as well.” She said indicating the other rack, “I also brought some pyjamas and stuff since I figured you wouldn’t have those either and I picked up some necessities.” She pointed to another bag on the bottom of the rack and John opened it to show toothpaste and soap, toothbrushes, shampoo, conditioner and towels. 

“You thought of everything!” Erica said delighted.

“It’s kind of my job.” The girl said shrugging. “Although Stiles kind of mentioned what you might like.”

“I’m really sorry,” Scott said interrupting, “But who are you exactly?” 

“Oh my god, sorry, I’m Jen, I’m Jay and Stiles’ assistant. Mainly Jason, he has a list of demands as long as my arm like every day. Stiles never asks me for anything, like ever. So, when he text me and said he needed some clothes for you guys but didn’t really want to go get them himself, completely understandable by the way, well, obviously, I jumped at the chance.” Jen said quickly, blushing slightly, “Sorry, I’m a bit nervous. Tend to ramble when I’m nervous. Just, I want to do a good job and yeah,” She swung her arms slightly, “Stiles doesn’t ask for anything so I really want to impress him.” 

“You’ve impressed me!” Jackson said, smiling at the change of clothes happily. 

“Oh thank god. Is Stiles here? I wanted to check in on him?” 

“He’s in bed actually.” Derek said, concentrating for a moment and hearing the steady breathing that indicated Stiles was fast asleep, “Asleep. He’s had a long few days.” 

“Of course.” Jen said gently, “Well, tell him I was asking after him?” 

“Sure we will.” Erica said smiling at her.

“Thanks. Well, I’ll get off and let you guys get yourselves sorted. I know there’s like three spare bedrooms down past the kitchen, you know, if you want to sleep in a proper bed instead of the sofas?”

“Right.” Scott said, “That’s great thanks.” Derek didn’t want to sleep in an empty bed, he wanted to pile in with his pack and feel them around him and know they were safe. 

“Alright. See you later. Oh, wait, here,” She said handing Derek a card, “Here’s my number. If you think you need anything else, then just drop me a text and I’ll bring it here for you. Okay, great. See you later.” Jen said, heading to the door and shutting it behind her.

“Would anyone be annoyed at me if I said I really want a puppy pile?” Isaac said quietly and Erica pulled him into a tight hug. 

“Not at all Isaac. Me too.” She said, flicking on the television and pulling him down to the floor with some of the cushions from one of the sofas. Lydia and Jackson sat on the sofa next to them, Boyd sinking down next to Erica and wrapping an arm around her shoulder. Scott and Allison piled in next and Derek smiled down at them fondly. John took up a seat in on one of the nearby chairs, not getting down on the floor with them but still within touching distance. Derek lay down on the other side of Isaac, propped up against the sofa, Lydia’s feet next to his head. Derek tried to watch whatever programme was on the television but his eyes kept slipping closed and he was asleep within moments.

He stirred slightly a little later to the sound of whimpers from Stiles’ room. It was obvious that he was having a nightmare, Derek didn’t know what to do for the best, how to help. He glanced up as John who looked at him reassuringly before his eyes drifted shut and he went back to sleep.

He awoke to the smell of blood and the sound of a panicked shout. He was on his feet in a moment, racing towards Stiles’ room, John hot on his heels.

“Stiles!” Derek called out in a panic, barging into the room. Stiles was sat up in the bed, the sheets pooled around his waist, blood pouring from his nose, his face white with terror, a necklace glowing white around his neck. “Stiles! It’s okay. It’s just a nightmare. It’s alright.” Derek said, racing forward, to help in whatever way he could. He didn’t expect for Stiles to throw the covers away from him and jump out of the bed. Stiles was in his boxers and the damage from a few nights before was clear to see, there was a large bruise that covered most of his side, smaller finger shaped bruises at his hips, marks on his wrists where he’d been bound and obviously pulled at them. 

“Kiddo, it’s alright. You’re at home. You’re safe.”

“No. It’s not. It’s not a dream.” Stiles mumbled.

“Okay, what’s going on? Are you okay?” John said, the pack now gathered in the doorway behind them.

“Jason.” Stiles muttered, clutching at his shoulder. “Phone. I need my phone.” He said, searching through his clothes. Derek bent down and grabbed his jeans, pulling his phone from the pocket. Stiles sighed in relief, still looking like he was on the verge of fainting. 

“Stiles. Tell us what’s going on. What do you need?” Derek said and Stiles just swiped at the blood running from his nose, wiping it across his face.

“Come on.” Stiles said down the phone, “Answer, come on Jason. Answer the fucking phone.” He shouted, still clutching at his shoulder, pulling his dirty jeans back on, throwing a t-shirt over his head and acting like he didn’t even realize the pack was there, rummaging through his closet and pulling out a map.

Stiles brushed past them all, heading for the door.

“Stiles! Wait! Where are you going?” Derek said, almost jumping in front of Stiles. 

“Jason’s hurt. I need to get to him.” Stiles muttered.

“What?” Scott asked, “How do you know?” 

“I haven’t got time.” Stiles said, “I need to find him.” He said, pulling the map out and pulling the chain over his head. “Come on.” Stiles was shouting, “Find him.” Derek stilled in shock when the chain swung slightly and then landed on a section of the map. Stiles pulled it closer, staring at it closely and then hurrying towards the door. 

“Stiles!” John said, chasing after him, “Tell us what you need.”

“I need to find Jason.” Stiles said, moving forward unsteadily, seeming to not realize he was covered in blood and sweat.

“Alright, then let us help.” John said taking Stiles’ wrist, “Let us help son.”

“Okay.” Stiles said, shaking his head slightly. “We need to get downtown. Now. He’s hurt.” Stiles said, heading for the lift. They all piled in, staring at Stiles in awe. They weren’t sure how Stiles knew, but he knew, they didn’t doubt that for a second. Stiles seemed to be putting all his energy into staying upright, Derek glanced across at him, blood still dripping from his nose, Lydia pulled out some tissues and passed them across to Stiles who nodded gratefully. 

They headed out the back door, Stiles pulling his hood up to avoid the two reporters that were camped out there, thankfully they didn’t seem to notice Stiles and then they were in the car and driving. 

“Can you tell us what happened?” Scott asked. Stiles just shook his head, looking like he was going to throw up.

“It’s getting worse. We need to hurry.” He glanced out of the window then at the map, “Take the next left.” He said and Erica swung the van around the corner.

“What hurt him? Are we in danger?” 

“I don’t know. You should stay in the car until I can say.” Stiles said, there were several shakes of heads in disagreement. Stiles glared at them. “You don’t know what you’re dealing with. I can handle it. Stay in the car where it’s safe.” Derek sighed. “I mean it.” Stiles said glancing out of the window. “Stop!” He shouted, but Erica didn’t need him to say that. They’d all already seen it. Someone was lying in the street just ahead of them. As soon as the car stopped Stiles was out of the door, flying towards the person before any of them could tell him to wait. 

“Jason!” Stiles was shouting, reaching out and flipping him onto his back.

“Stiles.” Jason mumbled, his eyes were closed with pain and his voice was slurred and he was clutching onto his shoulder tightly. 

“Jason, let me look, alright, let me see. I need to see it.” Stiles said calmly, pushing Jason’s hand away firmly. “You’re going to be fine, alright?” 

“Yeah.” Jason nodded, although it was obvious he didn’t believe it, “Yeah, I’ll be fine.” Jason mumbled and Derek reeled when Stiles finally managed to get Jason to move his hand. There was a large bite mark there, black ooze seeping from it. It took Derek only a moment to register that Jason was going through the change and he wasn’t going to survive it. 

The whole pack stilled, staring at the bite. Stiles frowned at the bite, glared at it.

“Is it bad?” Jason asked cracking open an eye and looking to Stiles.

“No man.” Stiles replied, emotion seeping into his voice, “You’re going to be fine. I won’t let anything happen to you. We promised to look out for each other remember?”

“I sucked at that.” Jason said, coughing slightly and groaning in pain.

“You didn’t. You don’t. And you’re going to have plenty of time to keep proving that you don’t suck at it. Okay? You and me, we’ve got each other’s back always?”

“Always.” Jason repeated, he was sweating massively now, his breathing laboured. “Stiles.” He whispered, “I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”

“No.” Stiles said, placing his hands over the wound and closing his eyes, “We are not having this conversation again. It’s not your fault.”

“This isn’t yours.” Jason said, his body starting to convulse with pain. Derek could smell the guilt coming off Stiles, he knew that Stiles was blaming himself for this and Derek had no idea what he could possibly say to make this better.

“Look. We are not having a deathbed conversation right now.” Stiles said, frowning in concentration. “You are going to be fine. You hear me? You’re going to be fine Jay.” Stiles pressed down harder on the wound.

“Yeah?” Jason asked, his breathing sounding a little easier and Stiles smiled slightly.

“Course buddy. I promise. You’re going to be fine.” Stiles said, placing his forehead against Jason’s. The whole pack watched in awe as Jason seemed to still, his body relaxing, the lines of pain in his face disappearing, Derek could hear the solid, steady beat of his heart. It looked for all the world like Jason had just gone to sleep. 

Stiles took his hands away a few moments later and there were shocked gasps, the bite was still there, but now, there was no black ooze, it looked like a clean bite, it looked like he would survive the change.

“What did you do?” Allison said with awe. Stiles stood up slowly, refusing to look away from Jason, he glanced up to meet their eyes and then his eyes rolled upwards and he dropped like a sack of potatoes. Thankfully Derek managed to catch him before he hit the ground and they all looked across at each other. 

“What do we do now?” Jackson said looking down at the two unconscious bodies on the ground. 

“Well, we can sneak them back into the apartment maybe?” Lydia said slowly, “We go through the back door, if there are any reporters, John leads them away, we sneak them back upstairs, we wait for them to wake up and then we deal with whatever the hell just happened.” There were nods of agreement and they loaded them back into the van. 

Thankfully there were no reporters outside the back of the building and they managed to get both Jason and Stiles back up to the apartment without any issues. They placed them both on two of the sofas, Derek cleaning Stiles up so he wasn’t covered in blood and Isaac grabbed a clean t-shirt for Jason, then they sat down to wait. 

Derek dozed off after around four hours with no movement. They were all worried but they were also all exhausted. When it became evident that neither of them were about to die, they’d all piled on the floor and one-by-one drifted off to sleep. 

Derek wasn’t sure how long he slept for but when he was jolted awake by a loud shout later, he felt better than he had in a while. Jason was sat up on the sofa gazing around the room in shock, his eyes flashing a light gold and his claws and teeth lengthening. 

“Jason.” Derek said, sitting up and watching the rest of the pack begin to stir at the sound of his voice, “Are you okay? How do you feel?” He flashed his eyes once and Jason met them and slowly started to shift back.

“Like I just got bitten by a radioactive spider.” Jason replied.

“Try a werewolf.” Derek said and Jason nodded numbly.

“Yeah.” He looked across at Stiles, “He’s told me so many stories over the past year, about ghosts, vampires, witches and werewolves. I just thought he’d come up with all these great ideas for the show. I never imagined it was all true.” He said sadly.

“Stiles isn’t a very good liar.” John said, running a hand across Stiles’ forehead. He was still out cold. 

“I just, I can’t believe this. I knew Percy was a shit. But just, a fucking werewolf? I’d never imagined that.” 

“He was the one who bit you?” Derek asked and Jason nodded.

“Yeah, well, we can agree that Percy is a shit.” Scott said. “But, on the plus side, there’s no way Stiles is going to do anything for him, not now he’s done this.” He said waving his hand at Jason.

“By this I’m assuming you mean attacking me and trying to kill me?” Jason said and the pack nodded in reply. 

“Thank God Stiles managed to do whatever the hell he did to stop you from dying.” Lydia said and Jason looked again at Stiles. 

“Yeah. Although, werewolf. Not sure how I feel about that.” His eyes flashed quickly.

“We can teach you how to control it.” Isaac said and Jason smiled at him gratefully.

“I’d appreciate that. Right now, I’m struggling to think of anything other than how loud everything is.” Jason said, cracking a small smile.

“You get used to it.” Erica said, “Derek turned us a few years ago and we’ve pretty much got it all under control now.”

“What?” Jason said in shock.

“Yeah, I mean, our lives kind of sucked beforehand. Derek saved us.” Isaac said.

“My life didn’t totally suck.” Jackson whined. “But, yes, it’s better now.”

“I was actually bitten by his uncle who was insane.” Scott said, raising his hand.

“And I’m a hunter.” Allison said.

“I’m a banshee, also bitten by the crazy uncle.” Lydia added. Jason looked around at them in shock.

“I’m just a human Sheriff.” John said, “Don’t forget the Sheriff part though. Any trouble and I’ll shoot you with wolfsbane so fast you won’t even know what hit you.”

“Wolfsbane?” Jason asked.

“It’s the easiest way to kill us.” Boyd explained.

“Okay. A lot to take in then.” Jason said, glancing across at Stiles’ sleeping form again. “And the things I can smell?” 

“You get used to that too.” 

“So Stiles smelling amazing is going to fade, right?” 

“Not you too.” John groaned. 

“Not me too what?” Jason asked. 

“Stiles has a certain scent.” Isaac said, “It gets easier to be around, but, no, it doesn’t ever fade.”

“What?” Derek said looking shocked, he had no idea Isaac saw Stiles as a potential mate.

“Yeah, dude, I thought you knew this.” Erica said, “Stiles smells amazing to, well, all of us. But obviously, none of us are going to act on it. You’re our alpha.”

“I’m sorry what?” John asked confused and Derek had to admit he was a bit lost too.

“Well, we all know Derek is crazy about Stiles.” Jackson said, “None of us would ever act on how we feel unless Derek decided against acting on his feelings.”

“I’m sorry what?” Jason said, glaring at Derek who couldn’t help but blush under the scrutiny.

“Can we just go back to the fact that you all smell Stiles as a potential mate?” Derek said in shock. 

“Well, yeah.” Boyd said shrugging. 

“Even you Scott?” Derek asked and Scott blushed.

“It’s not like I’d ever do anything about it, he’s like my brother.” Scott mumbled.

“Oh my god.” Derek said, “I’ve, God, I’ve never heard of this happening. No one person has this many potential mates. It’s unbelievable.”

“I’ve got to say, I’m a bit confused though,” John said, “Jackson, you are happy with Lydia, but you’re interested in Stiles, and the same goes for Scott and Allison and Erica and Boyd?” They all nodded.

“Yeah, although technically, we’re both interested in Stiles. Neither of us would say no to cuddles.” Erica grinned wickedly. 

“But, if you’re all already mates then why are you interested in Stiles?” John asked, more curiosity than anything else.

“Maybe it has something to do with the fact that Stiles is Derek’s true mate.” Lydia said casually from where she was filing one of her nails. 

“What!?” Half the pack screeched and Derek blushed brighter.

“Obviously. Come on guys, I’m not even a wolf and I can see that Stiles and Derek are perfect for each other.” 

“But that doesn’t make them True Mates!” Jackson said.

“Really?” Lydia said raising an eyebrow at Derek as if daring him to contradict her, “Are we sure about that Derek?” Derek glared at the floor in silence and the whole pack was staring at him in astonishment. 

“Seriously?” Erica said and Derek gave a tight nod. 

“Oh my god!” Allison said in excitement, “This is so exciting. Oh, God, I can’t wait to see Stiles’ face when he finds out about this.”

“Erm, yeah, I don’t want to tell Stiles just yet.” Derek muttered.

“What!?” Everyone shouted and Derek flinched.

“Look, do we not think Stiles has enough on his plate at the moment?” Derek said glancing across at Stiles, he was still completely flat out on the sofa, “He has enough to deal with. Don’t you think? Look at what’s gone on in the last week alone. Let’s just get him back on his feet. I promise I’ll talk to him about it as soon as this is all over. Everything with Percy and his pack. Everything with the stupid video. Everything. I promise.” Derek said sincerely and almost everyone agreed.

“Don’t you think Stiles should have options?” Jason asked.

“It’s not like Derek’s going to force him into anything.” Isaac growled. “It’s true mates. Like freaking soul mates man.” 

“Doesn’t mean I have to like it.” Jason sulked.

“No. You don’t.” Lydia snarled, “But, if you want any chance of being in our pack and not belonging to Percy, then you’ll do as our Alpha asks and keep your trap shut until Stiles has dealt with everything else going on. Got it?” She said viciously and Jason gulped.

“Yeah. Got it.” He said nervously and Derek looked at Lydia in awe, unable to believe she’d just defended him to such an extent. 

“Now, are we going to talk about the fact that Stiles is still out for the count?” She said quickly. “Do we know what happened to make him react like that? How he knew something was wrong? What the hell was that nosebleed was all about?” She said, expecting ideas and answers.

“A nosebleed?” Jason asked, “A bad one?” There were several nods, “He’s had one of those before. One day on set, he just like collapsed, like, erm, he went white as a sheet and his legs gave out and there was blood pouring out of his nose. We went to the hospital but they couldn’t find anything wrong. Maybe if we’d gone straight away, but he wouldn’t leave set until he’d spoken to you.” Jason said, motioning to John.

“What?” John said with worry, “Wait, when? The day we got shot at?” 

“Erm, I think so, he was like convinced something was wrong.” Jason said, “Stiles was so freaked out, but as soon as he heard you were fine, he said he’d go to the hospital.”

“Jason,” John said, with his Sheriff’s tone of voice, “Did Stiles ever give you something? A charm maybe?” 

“Yeah, sure.” Jason said, pulling out a chain from around his neck that had a small silver charm on it. 

“You think that Stiles collapsed on set because of the spells on the charms?” Erica said shocked.

“Spells?” Jason said looking at the charm in his hand with surprise.

“When Percy attacked you, could he get at you first time? Was he, did anything, erm, was his path blocked at all?” John asked.

“Yeah. Like, this sort of bubble popped up, like I couldn’t see it really, just like a shimmer in the air. Then Percy threw this like, bag of stuff at it and it collapsed. Then he bit me.” Jason said.

“Okay, so the shield popped up, Stiles felt it and the nosebleed started. It’s logical.” Lydia said.

“I can’t believe this. Why didn’t he tell us what these would do to him?” John said glaring at his charm and starting to pull the charm off his chain.

“Don’t.” Stiles said drowsily and John immediately bent down to him.

“Stiles, are you okay? Are you alright?”

“Don’t take it off. Keeps you safe.” Stiles said, barely opening his eyes.

“Alright kiddo, I’ll keep it on alright? Are you okay? Do you need anything?” John asked, tucking the charm back under his shirt, but Stiles was already asleep again.

“I’m starving.” Jason said a few minutes later, “You guys want me to order some food in? Pizza maybe?” 

“God, yes please.” Erica said, “I’m starving.” 

They ordered food and it arrived a little while later, they ate in relative silence, they were obviously all caught up in their own thoughts. 

Stiles stirred again a few hours later and this time opened his eyes, taking a few moments to look around the room slowly. 

“Jay,” Stiles said sitting up quickly and then wobbling slightly at the head rush, “Are you okay?” 

John leaned against Stiles and Derek leaned against his other side, he wasn’t going to tell anyone just how much comfort that offered Derek.

“I’m fine Stiles.” Jason said smirking, “You know, other than the fact I’m a werewolf who plays a vampire on tv. Yeah, that’s going to be fun next season.” 

“What happened?” Stiles asked.

“Well, you woke up screaming my name, which is really not how I planned on having you screaming my name if I’m honest.” Jason joked and Stiles frowned at him.

“Not what I meant. I meant what happened with Percy?”

“Oh, well, he tried to attack me and this bubble came up, which it seems, I need to thank you for by the way, then he threw this like bag of stuff at it and it collapsed and then he bit me.”

“Fuck.” Stiles cursed, jumping to his feet and pacing the floor, “That little witch.” He snarled. 

“Stiles, what’s going on?” Derek asked, hating the anger he could feel rolling of Stiles in waves.

“No fucking way does someone break through my wards twice in one week, it doesn’t fucking happen. Which means that bitch gave them a way to break through.” Stiles fumed.

“What?” The pack asked in unison just as the doorbell rang.

“Who the hell is that?” Derek shouted, fed up with the constant interruptions.

“Shit. What night is it?” Stiles said.

“Sunday.” Jason replied, “Probably only Mark.” He said casually and then suddenly going pale, “Hang on, you said he’s a vampire, is he actually a fucking vampire?” 

“Oh god!” Stiles groaned, rolling his eyes and already heading for the door, “Now you actually believe me.” He said opening the door. “Hey Mark.” He said in greeting.

“Stiles.” Mark replied stepping into the apartment. “Thought you’d need me this week. Have I caught you at a bad time?” Mark said observing the pack throughout the room.

“Why the hell are you hanging out with a vampire?” Allison shouted.

“Chill Ally, he’s a psychic vamp. He feeds on emotions not blood and he’s a decent guy.”

“Wow. I didn’t know you thought so much of me.” Mark joked and Stiles rolled his eyes.

“Alright. I’ve got some good ones for you this week. Come on.” Stiles said, moving towards his room.

“Wait.” John said, standing in front of them. “Want to tell us what the hell is going on?” 

“Mark helps me out sometimes, he feeds on emotions, but like, not enough to kill anybody or anything. Like, imagine you’re arguing with someone, lots of anger and frustration and it’s all boiling over and you know someone is about to throw a punch, well, Mark here,” Stiles threw an arm around the guys shoulder who grinned sheepishly, “He would calm all that down, he gets a good feed and there’s no fight, also no lasting damage. Just a bit less angry for a couple of hours and then boom, back to normal.”

“Right, and he’s here why?” Derek said suspiciously.

“Erm, well, I help keep him on the straight and narrow.” Stiles shrugged.

“Stiles has a lot of powerful emotions.” Mark said and the whole pack was stunned into silence.

“Stiles,” Derek growled clenching his fists tightly, “Please tell me you don’t let a psychic vampire feed off you?”

“Well, when you say it like that…” Stiles trailed off as Derek’s eyes flashed red. 

“It’s not harmful.” Mark said, “Just helps me to cope for a while and helps Stiles sleep for a bit.” 

“I’m sorry?” John spluttered, “You need a psychic vampire to drain your emotions enough so that you can sleep!?” 

Stiles blushed, clenching and unclenching his fists at his side before finally glaring at them all. 

“Can you excuse us for a few moments.” Stiles said, it wasn’t a question and before any of them could answer Stiles had already dragged Mark into his bedroom and slammed the door.

“Stiles!” Derek shouted, slamming a fist into the door, “Open this door right now.” He demanded.

“Alright, let’s do this quickly.” Stiles’ voice floated through the door.

“You sure? They sound pretty pissed?” Mark replied.

“I’m sure.” Stiles said firmly. Derek could hear a small gasp and then a thud against the door. 

“Stiles!” Derek shouted, “Open the door! Now!” 

“Fuck!” Mark moaned, “Stiles!” He groaned in pleasure and Derek had to fight the urge to break down the door and break Mark’s neck. 

There were a few more moans from Mark and then a few minutes later the door opened slowly and Mark stepped out, his pupils blown wide with pleasure. 

“Dude, what is that smell?” Jason said, wrinkling his nose. Erica smirked at Mark.

“I’m guessing somebody got a serious hit from Stiles’ emotions. Enough that maybe he got a little too much pleasure if you catch my drift?” 

Jason’s gaze drifted down to Mark’s trousers and the slight damp spot there and his mouth dropped open in shock.

“Oh.” He said simply, blushing brightly. 

“Erm, well, I’ll get going.” Mark said, looking more than a little flushed. “Erm, thanks.” He said turning to Stiles.

“Sure.” Stiles said, shrugging slightly like it wasn’t a big deal and Mark headed out the door. 

“Are you kidding me right now!?” Derek shouted as soon as the door was closed and Stiles glared at him. “Seriously, the guy just sucked a tonne of your emotions and you’re acting like it’s fine?” 

“He hasn’t taken my emotions, he’s just lowered their levels.” Stiles said seriously. 

“Like that fucking matters!” Derek yelled, “Having emotions sucked out of you is not fucking normal Stiles! Why would you even do that?”

“So I can sleep!” Stiles screamed, “So that one stupid night a week I can actually sleep without having nightmares and oddly enough this week has been pretty bad and I want to able to sleep for one night. Is that enough of a reason for you!?” Stiles screamed his whole body trembling with emotion. 

“I’m sorry.” Derek said a moment later and Stiles looked at him in confusion. 

“What?”

“I’m sorry.” Derek said slightly louder.

“Oh no, I heard you first time, I just can’t believe I’m hearing you apologize. Have you actually got in touch with your emotions in the past eighteen months?” 

“Oh, har-har.” Derek said rolling his eyes and Stiles flashed him an easy grin. “I’m serious Stiles.” Derek said, taking a step towards him, “I’m sorry. I’m sorry for shouting at you, I’m sorry I haven’t been here for you, that you felt you couldn’t talk to us about whatever bothers you, I’m sorry that you thought we were going to kick you out, I’m sorry for being such an idiot like nine tenths of the time. But we’re here and we’ve no intention of going anywhere. You need to talk, I’m here, you need to scream and shout, I’m here, you want to cry or punch something or whatever, I’m here. Okay?” 

Stiles was staring at him in complete and utter shock and then looked around him at the pack who all only shrugged at him. 

“Six tenths.” Stiles said, “Only an idiot six tenths of the time.” He said before sinking into the nearest seat with a heavy sigh. “Okay.” Stiles said a minute later. 

“Alright, so, before Mark turned up you were saying someone broke through your wards twice this week?” John prompted and Stiles nodded.

“Yeah. Percy broke through Jason’s shield. It should have held up longer than that. I know I said I don’t know how many hits they can take, but it’s around fifty. I spent a lot of time on them, making sure that they’d hold long enough for someone to get to you. For Percy to destroy my wards after one blow he must have had another caster put together a hex bag to break the wards.” 

“Okay, following so far.” John said, “Another witch must have gotten the hex bag to Percy, so therefore another witch is helping him. But what about the second ward to be broken?”

“The other night.” Stiles said, “With the, with the guy.” Stiles gestured to the laptop, “It wasn’t like normal drugs, you know?” Stiles said, he was obviously very uncomfortable talking about it. 

“Alright,” Derek said, “So the drugs that guy slipped you, it wasn’t drugs, it was like a witch’s herb?”

“Yeah. Except it was a mixture of herbs that got past my wards. Not just any herbs can do that, it has to be a specific mix, and the only person who knows my wards, who I sat and planned them with, was Monica.”

“Wait, Monica that we met a couple of weeks ago? That you fell out with? She’s a witch?” Jason said surprised.

“Yeah, that Monica.” Stiles said, his head in his hands. “She helped me when I first got started, taught me stuff, helped me with a few starter spells and stuff. Once I got the hang of things I didn’t ask her as much about stuff, she was making me uncomfortable, so, I found a couple of other places to get information, she helped me with the wards on the charms because I didn’t want to accidently kill myself trying to keep the shields up.”

“Is that a possibility?” Scott said worriedly.

“No.” Stiles reassured him, “That was the reason I asked Monica to help. Anyway, we had an argument a few months ago, about some spells she wanted to cast. I hadn’t seen her in a couple of months and we bumped into each other the other week.” He paused, “She looked off, I called by her place later, I wanted to check she was okay, we were friends to some extent, I wanted to look out for her. She was asking for some stuff, stuff that was out there, you know, stuff that you don’t use unless you’re into some serious dark crap. Anyway, I told her I wouldn’t get it, that she needed to get help, that I was here for her. She laughed it off, told me it wasn’t for her, that it was for a friend and she just didn’t know how to help her. And like an absolute idiot I believed her.” Stiles looked to be on the verge of tears, “I believed her, how stupid could I be? This stuff that’s happening now, it makes sense. She’s working a spell. A powerful one and she needs stuff for that. Stuff that’s she has been collecting.” Stiles was pacing across the room, his mind obviously racing, “I’m such a fucking idiot.” He said smacking his forehead with the palm of his hand. 

“What stuff does she need?” Derek said, trying to keep Stiles focused and Stiles frowned for a moment while he thought about the spell.

“She needs the blood of an Alpha werewolf, which I’m more than willing to bet that Percy gave her in exchange for the hex bag.” Stiles frowned in concentration, “She needed, I’m not sure how to phrase it, she needed a spell casters blood, from the first time they had sex, like virgin’s blood, but not virgin’s blood, literally the blood from the first time the spell caster had sex otherwise it won’t work.” 

“Needed?” 

“I guess she has it now.” Stiles frowned then glanced up at the pack in confusion when they were silent, “There was, erm, some bleeding.” Stiles said, once again waving at the laptop and Derek felt his stomach roll.

“You were a virgin?” He exclaimed.

“Yes.” Stiles said, “I thought everyone knew this. Wasn’t like I was quiet about it.” 

“Yeah, but Stiles, that was back in Beacon Hills. You are like world famous now. You didn’t sleep with anyone while you were out here?” Isaac said.

“If I did then we wouldn’t be having this conversation right now, would we?” Stiles snapped.

“Erm, no.” Isaac replied.

“Look, it’s not like I wasn’t looking.” Stiles said, throwing his hands up, “But, I couldn’t trust anyone. Honestly the amount of supernatural shit out there, you wouldn’t believe me if I told you. Jason’s the only person out here I trust and up until this week I was convinced he was completely straight and also not into me. Not that that would have made any difference because I don’t like him like that. Any way, we are getting off topic here.”

“Right.” Derek said, trying not to think about the fact that the only time Stiles had had sex had been with that awful guy on that horrendous night. “So what else does she need?”

“Erm, she’ll need vampires blood, the stronger the vampire the better, like an Alpha vampire. It’s harder to get than you think. Vampires only bleed if you behead them, otherwise they turn to dust, and also the blood only lasts the night, so it would have to be pretty recent. I’ll text Mark and see if he knows of anyone beheaded recently. I probably would have heard about it but I’ll ask anyway.” Stiles said already pulling out his phone, “I guess, what else,” He paused, obviously debating on saying something further, before sighing heavily, “Nope, I think, well, no, that’s it. That’s the big three, Alpha werewolf and vampire and a spell casters blood. The rest is stuff that she would be able to get her hands on pretty easily from a few select places, a human heart, dragon scales, mermaid gills, that kind of stuff.”

“Alright,” John said, “Two things.” Stiles nodded, waiting for him to continue, “One. Just so I understand this. Monica got a guy to drug and rape you so she could get some blood. Correct?”

“Yes.” 

“What does the guy get out of it?” John asked.

“I don’t know. The privilege of fucking me on film?” Stiles said sarcastically, “I don’t know.” He sighed, “She probably paid him a shit tonne of money.” He said dismissively, as if it wasn’t important. 

“Okay,” John said, gritting his teeth, “Two. What does this spell do?” 

“Well, depending on the incantation she uses, it’s basically a power spell. Most spell casters are born with a certain level of power, when they start out they are all beginners, they are all, well, let’s call it level one. Okay, so depending on the amount of power you have, depends on what level you reach. But if you haven’t got the power, it doesn’t matter how much you practice, you’re never going to get any further. So for instance, if your powers taps out at level four, it doesn’t matter if you read every spell book in the world and memorize them all, you’re still only going to be able to cast level four spells.”

“Okay. But what about if your power is level six but you only know up to level four?” Lydia asked.

“Well, you might be able to pull the spell off, but you could also end up killing yourself if you don’t know what you’re doing. Anyway, if we were using this level basis and it goes from one to a hundred, Monica would be around twenty-eight. This spell she’s planning, like I say, depending on the incantation, could set her up anywhere from eighty to ninety. We really don’t want her to do that. Not if she’s using dark magic to get it.” Stiles informed them.

“Where do we find her?” Erica growled.

“Oh no. We don’t find her anywhere.” Stiles said, “I’ll find her and deal with it. You guys are staying here where Percy can’t get at you.” 

“Like hell we are.” John said and Derek nodded in agreement.

“Stiles, we’re not letting you take on a witch of that power by yourself.” Derek said.

“Monica is level twenty-eight, I’m level fifty and counting. Okay? I can handle her.” Stiles said confidently.

“What do you mean and counting?” Scott asked.

“I haven’t reached my limit yet. I keep pushing myself, but so far, I’ve done everything I’ve tried. Believe me, I can handle her. So, stay here, where it’s safe. Please?” Stiles pleaded

“Stiles,” John said, “This woman hired someone to rape you, she helped an Alpha werewolf turn one of your friends. You honestly think for one second that we’re going to let you go see her without us for back up?”

“No. But I have to try.” Stiles sighed heavily, “I get you’re worried about me, but I’ve been doing this for eighteen months by myself, I’ve gone against things you haven’t even heard of and I’ve come out on top every time. The whole reason I even made the stupid deal with Percy is to keep you guys safe. If something happened to any of you…”

“And what about is something happens to you?” Lydia said and Stiles paused, “You think any of us would get over it? We’re a pack Stiles. We protect each other. We watch out for each other. And we’ve failed you. If we had just spoken to you to begin with this whole mess could have been avoided.” 

“Yeah, well, it’s happened.” Stiles shrugged, “That doesn’t mean you have to go out there now and risk getting hurt.”

“Of course it does.” Derek argued.

“Look,” Stiles said, glancing down at his phone, “Right now, I need to figure out why Mark hasn’t text me back and how far Monica is along with this spell.” 

“And we do that how?” Isaac asked.

“Just, give me five minutes.” Stiles said already dialling a number.

“Who are you calling?” Allison asked.

“There’s a detective I know from the local precinct,” He paused and they heard the phone connect.

“Detective Myers.” A woman said in greeting

“Hey, Meg, it’s Stiles.” 

“And what can I do for you on this fine day Stilinski?” Meg replied sarcastically, but it was easy to hear the warmth in her tone.

“Aww, Meg, you know just how to make me melt.” Stiles grinned.

“Funny.” Meg sighed, “Thanks for the heads up the other week by the way.”

“No worries. You catch him?” 

“Yeah I did. Everyone thinks it was a lucky catch. How are you doing by the way? I, erm, I saw the video.” She said, her voice filled with concern.

“Yeah, seems like everyone has. I’m fine.” Stiles replied, “Look, I’ll get to the point. I need some information.”

“Did you give your dad this much trouble at home?” Meg laughed.

“Obviously.” Stiles said, smiling fondly at John. “Listen, bit of a weird one, but any chance you’ve had any beheadings come in recently, as in, tonight?” 

“Beheadings?” Meg replied in surprise.

“Yeah, you know, head in one place, body in another?” 

“I know what a beheading is Stiles.” She said seriously, “What I want to know is how you know about it?” 

“You’ve got one?” Stiles said, frowning at the floor.

“Yeah. I’m at the scene now. Came in about five minutes ago.” 

“Where?” 

“Seventh avenue.” Meg replied.

“That’s not far from here.” Stiles said to the room. “You got an ID on the vic yet?”

“We have. But we need to contact family members first.”

“I get that Meg. But, listen, I know procedure, I know. But you know me and you know I can help, so when I tell you I’m working a case you need to give me something, please?” Stiles begged and Meg sighed wearily.

“Vic’s name is Mark Harrison.” Meg said, “Call came in from a teenage kid, says he saw a woman fleeing the scene.”

“Mark Harrison?” Stiles said, his voice cracking.

“Yeah.” Meg said and then seemed to register Stiles’ voice, “You know the guy?” 

“Yeah.” Stiles said, his eyes filling up with tears, “Yeah.” He said again, shaking his head in grief, “He was here, like, what, half an hour ago? Fuck!” Stiles shouted, kicking out at a bin nearby and knocking it over. 

“Stiles, I’m so sorry.” Meg said over the phone. 

“Not your fault. Listen Meg, this woman, she’s not to be messed with. She’s a special case alright? Let me find her and neutralize her. Then you can take her in. Okay?” Stiles said coldly.

“You need any help?” Meg replied, evidently it wasn’t the first time something supernatural had hit her desk.

“No. Stay out of it. I’ll call you when it’s done.” Stiles said ending the call quickly and turning on his heel and heading for his room.

“Stiles,” Derek said, heading after him and watching as he pulled out an assortment of items from his wardrobe and under his bed, “I’m sorry, about, about Mark.”

Stiles snorted, “Sure you are big guy.”

“Look, I get you’re hurting, I might not have liked the guy, but, you know, I,” 

“Derek, please stop.” Stiles said angrily, “I really, really, don’t need this right now.” He said, grabbing a bag and slinging it over his shoulder.

“Alright.” Derek said feeling a pit of dread in his stomach. “So what’s the plan?” He said, following Stiles out to the living room again.

“Okay.” Stiles said, laying out a map on the table in front of them, “Monica is going to need the final supplies for the spell, there’s three places she can get them from.” Stiles said, pointing to three different points on the map, “The vampire blood will be gone by dawn so she will need to do it tonight, which means, that if you guys are coming with,”

“We are.” Isaac said firmly.

“Okay, well, it means that we’re going to have to split up.” Stiles said. “But, you follow my orders or you stay here.” He said authoritatively. The pack glanced to Derek, who nodded at them and then they all nodded in agreement, “Under no circumstances are you to initiate any contact with Monica. If you find out where she is then you leave and call me. You do not attack. Do you understand?” There were more nods of agreement. “Okay, look, firstly, tell them that I sent you, otherwise you won’t get any information. Tell them that you will only speak to Rodger. It’s a safe word, they’ll know I actually sent you then.” 

“Okay.” Erica said, “So how are we splitting this?” 

“Alright, well, I think it’s most likely that she’ll be at Elsie’s. So I’ll go there.” Stiles said, “But, just in case she’s not, Derek, you, Erica, Scott, Isaac and Lydia go to Dark Knight.” Stiles pointed to one point on the map, “Boyd, Allison, Jackson and dad, you go to Blues.” He pointed to the final bar. “Sound good?”

“What about me?” Jason asked. 

“You’re a freshly turned wolf Jason, I’m not going to send you out there until you have a little control at least.” Stiles said.

“You’re not going to Elsie’s alone.” Derek said, “I’ll come with you. Jason can’t stay by himself, what if Percy comes here and attacks him?” 

“Oh my god!” Stiles said, throwing his hands up in the air. “Right, fine. First off, no, you are not coming to Elsie’s.” Stiles said glowering at Derek and striding back into his bedroom. “Secondly,” He said rummaging through his wardrobe and pulling a small bracelet from the bottom shelf, “Put this on.” He said, thrusting it at Jason.

“What is it?” Jason asked.

“Something I’ve been experimenting with. Just put it on.” Stiles said, huffing with impatience when Jason couldn’t get it fastened. “How do you feel?” He said as soon as the bracelet was fastened.

“Erm, better?” Jason said after taking a deep breath, “Everything is quieter, not as glaring and in your face.”

“Good. It’s supposed to dull the senses. The idea is that you have more control over your wolf until you learn to control it properly. As soon as you get proper control then I’ll have it back. But you aren’t going to get control overnight. So, let’s just all survive the night yes?” Stiles said, striding towards the door. “Okay. Call if you hear anything.” Stiles ordered.

“Wait!” Derek said, “No way am I letting you go alone. Jason can go with the others, but I’m coming with you. No arguments.” He growled and Stiles rolled his eyes.

“Fine. Let’s just get going before Monica completes the spell already.” He said impatiently and they all hurried out of the apartment and down the stairs.

Stiles pulled his hood up when he saw the reporters camped outside both doors and hoped that they wouldn’t recognize him, unfortunately that failed and there were a dozen camera flashes going off as they all went outside and split up. Stiles could hear the shouts of questions but he ignored them all, keeping his gaze on the ground and trusting that the reporters would back off, he felt a solid presence on either side of him and risked a glance upwards to see that his dad was on one side, glaring at the reporters and Derek was on the other side, looking like he would happily gut every single one of them. Stiles couldn’t help the small smirk on his lips, he’d missed seeing Derek’s death glare.

Soon they’d pushed their way through the crowd and split off in different directions, both John and Derek sticking close to Stiles despite his protests. 

He looked at the bar in front of him, it looked run down and it stank, but Derek could still sense the magic rolling around the place, it made his whole body shiver, the feel of it making him oddly aroused. 

Stiles strode forwards confidently and John glanced to Derek who nodded and followed them both. Inside was worse than outside. The ceilings were so low Derek was afraid of banging his head, there were a few other customers who glanced up from their stools when they entered and then seemingly relaxed when they saw Stiles. 

There was a woman stood behind the bar staring at Derek and John distrustfully and Stiles grinned at her. 

“Hey Elsie.” He said easily.

“Stiles.” She replied tensely in greeting.

“Rodger in?” He asked and Elsie visibly relaxed.

“What’s up kiddo?” She said, a smile on her lips.

“Business unfortunately. After a certain caster, Monica, dark hair, pale, an inch or two shorter than me?” Stiles said and Derek was floored by how confident and in control Stiles looked.

“Why are you after her?”

“She’s after a power boost of the dark kind. She would have been in asking after some bad crap and recently?”

“Not in here kid.” Elsie said grimacing, “Power boost eh? You think she’s got all the ingredients?”

“Yeah, I know she has.” Stiles sighed.

“Even the final part?” Elsie said incredulously and Stiles shook his head minutely.

“Not that I know of. She won’t if I have anything to do with it.” Stiles said and Derek felt like he’d lost the conversation slightly. 

“What’s the final part?” John asked and Elsie opened her mouth to speak before Stiles shook his head and she paused.

“Oh, well, it varies from spell to spell.” Elsie said easily before turning her attention back to Stiles, “You want to stick around and see if she makes an appearance?”

“Nah, but do me a favour?” He asked and Elsie nodded, “Let me know if she shows up? She’s mine to deal with.” Derek could hear the steel in Stiles’ voice and he felt the arousal stirring deep in his gut, why was everything Stiles did so god damn attractive?

“Of course sweetie.” Elsie said, “Watch out for yourself.” She said but Stiles was already turning away from the bar and heading towards the exit. 

“So what is the final part?” Derek said as soon as they were back in the fresh air.

“Nothing important.” Stiles said, “It won’t get that far.” He said, he glanced up and down the street obviously trying to decide which location Monica would be at.

ERICA 

As soon as they stepped into the bar all heads swivelled in their direction and she heard the others hearts begin to race when there were weapons drawn. She swallowed and it was loud in the silence, she took a step forward towards the bar, separating herself slightly from the pack, watching as more weapons seemed to appear and several people seemed to be holding balls of fire in their palms, she’d think about that later.

“Erm,” She started, then had to clear her throat nervously, “Stiles sent us.” The room was still visibly tense, “He said to speak to Rodger?” She added and then everyone seemed to let out sighs of relief, weapons quickly disappearing under their coats or just vanishing into thin air, Erica tried to hide her amazement. 

“He okay?” The man behind the bar said gruffly and Erica couldn’t help but notice the affection in his voice.

“He’s doing alright.” Erica replied, trying to relax slightly, “He said to come here and see if you’ve seen Monica recently?” She said, still licking her lips nervously. The man frowned.

“Yeah, she left maybe ten minutes ago, had some werewolves with her.” 

“Oh, right,” Erica said, trying not to sound as disappointed as she felt, “You didn’t see which way she went?”

“Sure, said she was heading to mid park.” The guy replied helpfully and Erica flashed him a quick grin.

“Thanks. Which is where sorry?” She said quickly.

“Out of here, up the block, right for two blocks and then you can’t miss it.” 

“Great. Thanks so much for your help.” Erica said already retreating towards the pack.

“Tell Stiles to watch his back, those wolves aren’t friendly and he needs to keep clear.” The man said and Erica nodded in agreement, “You should watch your back too. Monica is a threat, even if Stiles doesn’t think so.”

“Thanks for the advice.” Scott said, “We appreciate you looking out for Stiles.”

“He’s a good kid.” The man replied. 

They made their way out of the place and they all relaxed.

“God, I didn’t know how terrifying that was going to be.” Isaac said, “Who knew Stiles would have that much pull in a place like that?” 

“I’m freaking shaking.” Scott said, holding out his hand and showing the tremors, “How the fuck does Stiles walk in there and not shit himself?” 

“Because Stiles is Stiles.” Lydia said calmly, glancing around them. “We should call him and tell him we know where Monica is going.” 

“Yeah. Good idea.” Erica said, already pulling her phone out.

“I wouldn’t if I were you.” A voice said from the shadows. They all looked up and saw a woman standing there with Percy, John, Bobby and Sam standing behind her, snarling viciously. “Not if you want to stay in one piece.” She advised and Erica fought back a growl. 

“You’re Monica I’m assuming?” Lydia said disgustedly, looking the woman up and down with cold eyes.

“You’d be right on that.” Monica grinned, baring her teeth. 

“We’re going to stop you.” Scott said valiantly and Monica let out a harsh laugh.

“Really? You and what army?” She snarled before throwing her hands out in front of her and the four of them went flying backwards, shields appearing around them to stop them landing hard on the ground. Monica sent out another laugh as Erica stumbled to her feet and threw a hex bag at the shield. 

Erica had only a moment to realize that the shield had collapsed before Percy’s hand was wrapped around her throat, his claws digging in and she couldn’t breathe.

“Let go of her!” Isaac was shouting from nearby but Erica couldn’t think, couldn’t do anything, she couldn’t do anything than bat weakly at Percy’s arm. 

“I don’t think that’s really in our best interests.” Monica laughed and then Erica was moving, finding herself pulled tightly against Percy’s chest, his claws digging deeper into her throat. 

“You think he’ll get the message?” Percy’s voice came from just above her head and Erica started to tremble. 

“Of course. Don’t kill her just yet. I still need one more thing from Stiles and he’ll be much more agreeable if she’s alive.” Monica’s voice drifted across as if from a distance far away and Percy relaxed his grip slightly. Erica sucked in great lungfuls of air desperately, the faces of Scott, Isaac and Lydia drifting back into her vision. 

“Stay.” Monica growled and she saw the looks of horror on her pack mates faces when none of them seemed able to move and then she was being dragged away from them, strong arms holding her in place and claws still digging into her throat.

DEREK

They had headed to Blues to meet up with Boyd, Allison, Jackson and Jason. Stiles had said it was more likely that Monica would go there than to Dark Knight and Derek followed him, he knew that Stiles knew more about this than he ever could. 

When they got there Jason and Jackson were sat on the wall outside and Boyd and Allison were glaring at them. As Derek got closer he saw that both Jackson and Jason were healing from wounds on their heads and he fought back the urge to growl. 

“What happened?” Stiles said urgently when they got closer. 

“Apparently they don’t trust us.” Boyd said.

“Did you say that you’d only speak to Rodger?” Stiles said and Allison nodded.

“They didn’t let us tell them that you’d sent us before they just attacked.” She said and Stiles checked her over for injuries. 

“Are you alright?”

“Yeah, the shields held. But Jason and Jackson managed to smack their heads on the way out.” Allison said and Stiles smirked slightly. 

“Alright. Stay here. I won’t be long.” He said heading towards the bar.

“No.” Jackson said, “You can’t go in there. They’re insane.” He sounded worried for Stiles and Derek started to panic slightly, maybe this wasn’t safe. 

“Don’t worry, I’ve got it covered.” Stiles said, heading down the steps, seemingly unaware that the rest of them were following him nervously. 

As soon as Stiles stepped into the room with the rest of the pack on his heels Derek could sense the tension. Stiles strode towards the bar, glaring at anyone who even looked at them. 

“Dean!” He said when he saw the man behind the bar and Dean looked terrified. “You want to tell me why you let people attack my people?”

“Shit, sorry Stiles. I didn’t know they were with you.” Dean said quietly and Derek could smell the awe that was coming off the rest of the pack, they were seemingly amazed by how much influence Stiles held here. “Sorry man. We didn’t know.”

“Well, they are. They gave you the code.” Stiles said furiously and Derek couldn’t help but smirk as everyone in the bar seemed to tense up in nerves. 

“They didn’t seem trustworthy.” Dean replied, probably not helping the situation, “I’m sorry Stiles. Really dude, just, don’t…”

“Don’t what?” Stiles snarled, “Don’t destroy your wards? Don’t decimate the population of this bar? Don’t turn you into a frog?” Dean paled, “Next time someone gives you the fucking code word give them a chance to explain.” Stiles hissed and Dean nodded quickly, nearly falling over in his haste to agree with Stiles. 

“Please don’t be mad with me.” Dean said quietly.

“I am.” Stiles growled, “But I’ll let it slide because nobody was seriously hurt. Don’t let there be a next time.” Stiles warned and half the bar nodded. Derek tried not to laugh, it was weird that all these people were afraid of Stiles, seemingly terrified of him and what he might do. 

“There won’t be.” Dean said, “Sorry.” He mumbled again and Stiles nodded tightly. “We okay?”

“Yeah.” Stiles sighed and the whole room visibly relaxed. Derek smirked when he caught Johns eye and they both tried not to laugh. “I’m here on business,” Stiles said and Dean perked up, “Has Monica been in?”

“No. Not for a few weeks at least.” Dean said, risking a quick smile at Stiles who huffed out a sigh. 

“Alright, well, you’ll let me know?”

“Of course. Anything.” Dean said and there were several nods of agreement before Stiles frowned at a symbol above the back door and headed towards it. 

“Wards are weakening man.” Stiles said, reaching up to touch it and Derek watched as a faint glow came from Stiles’ hand to the symbol. He took his hand away a minute later, the symbol a lot clearer on the wall, and came back towards them. “You’ve got to call me if they are in that state.” 

“I knew you had a bad week.” Dean supplied, “I figured you’d want a bit of peace and quiet, kind of why we’re all a bit jumpy in here at the moment.” 

“Yeah, well,” Stiles sighed, “Thanks I guess.” He rubbed at the back of his neck, “But I’m serious, I can’t protect the place if you don’t let me know the wards are low.” 

“Thanks Stiles.” Dean said, leaning against the end of the bar, “Seriously, I’m sorry about earlier, I don’t know what I’d do without you.” He said, surprising all of them by pulling Stiles into a tight hug. 

“Yeah, sure,” Stiles said, coughing slightly as they broke apart, “You know me, happy to help.” He grinned and headed back for the entrance.

“Would you have actually turned him into a frog?” Jackson asked as soon as they were outside and Stiles snorted.

“Of course not. Dean’s got a bit of a temper, but under that he’s a softie.” Stiles said already heading down the road quickly. 

“So, what’s the plan now?” Boyd said and Stiles glanced across at him.

“Go meet up with the others at Blues I guess. Elsie or Dean will call me if Monica makes an appearance.” Stiles informed them, he took another few steps forward when blood started to drip from his nose. Stiles looked at it in confusion for a moment before suddenly his knees buckled and he went down hard.

“Stiles!” Derek called out racing to him. Stiles was grasping at his neck like he couldn’t breathe, the blood running quickly down his chin. “Stiles! What do we do?” Derek said panicked, he was terrified Stiles was about to pass out. A few moments later and Stiles started to cough, sucking in great gasps of air. “Are you okay?” Derek said hastily, reaching out to steady Stiles when he tried to get to his feet. 

“Erica.” Stiles mumbled as if to himself and started trying to continue down the street, his steps unsteady as he wobbled from side to side. 

“What about Erica?” Boyd said moving to the other side of Stiles, “Is she okay?” 

“Can’t breathe.” Stiles whispered, still stumbling forwards. Derek stopped in front of Stiles and glared at him.

“Stiles! Focus! Erica is hurt. Tell us where.” He said but Stiles barely even seemed to register their presence as he continued forwards, wiping at the blood dripping from his nose. The rest of them glanced at each other and followed after him, the fear rolling off Boyd in waves that made Derek feel sick. Stiles got steadier on his feet as they moved through the city and when he saw Scott, Isaac and Lydia up ahead Derek surged forwards, relieved to see that they all looked to be in one piece.

“Are you okay?” Derek asked as Jackson and Allison rushed forwards to check their mates were alright. 

“We can’t move.” Lydia snapped. “They took Erica and Monica said to stay and now we can’t freaking move.”

There was a clap of thunder overhead and suddenly they stumbled forwards. Derek turned to Stiles who was glaring at the floor in anger.

“I told you not to go anywhere near her.” He hissed and Scott looked at Derek with fear in his eyes.

“We didn’t.” Isaac said, “We were just about to call you when she jumped us.” Stiles gritted his teeth in anger and there was another roar of thunder and this time lightning split the sky. 

“God dammit.” Stiles shouted, running his hands over his face and into his hair, another crack of thunder. 

“Stiles,” Derek said warily, he could smell the distress and agitation coming from Stiles and he didn’t know what had caused it. “Stiles,” He said clearing his throat, trying to get Stiles to look at him, “It’ll be okay, we’ll get Erica back.” 

“I know we will.” Stiles said, glaring at Derek, “I know we will, but there’s going to be a cost.” He said before turning on his heel and storming away, the rain starting to fall finally. 

Derek glanced around at his pack, he looked at Lydia who shrugged and he sighed a little in relief. If she had felt a scream coming, then he would have been worried. As it was she seemed as fine as possible in this situation so he relaxed, whatever the cost was, they would deal with it. 

He turned around and headed after Stiles, all of them jogging slightly to catch up with him.

“This time, when I say stay the hell out of her way, I freaking well mean it. Stay behind me. No matter what.” Stiles growled and they all nodded in agreement.

ERICA

Erica blacked out slightly on the way here, wherever here was. It smelt like woods, not the rich, deep, powerful woods of the preserve, but still, more like nature than anything else she’d encountered since she had arrived here. She felt a hand tighten around her throat and she tried not to panic, it didn’t stop the pure fear that coursed through her body when the hand tightened and laughs echoed through the clearing.

“I said don’t kill her yet.” Monica said and Erica looked up to see her sat in a circle, various items scattered around her.

“I’m only playing.” Percy laughed from behind her and Erica tried not to snarl at him.

“Well don’t.” Monica said forcefully, “To complete the spell I need Stiles. For him to agree I need her in one piece.”

“He won’t do it.” Erica gritted out, ignoring the way the claws dug a little deeper. 

“You sure on that?” Monica said grinning at her as she added ingredients into her bowl, Erica could have sworn she saw a human heart in there but she tried not to think about it.

“He won’t do it.” Erica repeated, more of a growl than before. 

“I think he will.” Monica smirked, “And it’s going to cost him so much. You want to know what I need to complete the spell?” She didn’t wait for Erica to reply before continuing on, “I need a spell casters magic. I need to suck every ounce of magic out of them. It’ll hurt. A lot. Then I’ll kill your whole pack and Stiles, well…”

“And then he’s mine.” Percy added, “Without any power, he’s defenceless and he’s mine.” He laughed.

Erica was silent for a moment, letting the words sink in, Monica was going to hurt Stiles and then Percy was going to take him. Erica wouldn’t allow it.

“We won’t let you. Stiles won’t let you.” Erica snarled and the claws dug deeper into her throat and she felt the panic overtake her again. 

Monica only laughed in reply, throwing a final ingredient in the bowl and smiling as she poured the potion into a cup and drank it down greedily, smirking at Erica when there was a loud crack in the sky above them. 

“Seems like he’s arrived just in time, and he sounds pissed.” Monica grinned and Erica turned to look at the pack as they streamed into the clearing, Stiles leading them to her. Erica felt the claws digging in deeper and she couldn’t even whimper, couldn’t cry out, couldn’t breathe. The panic was overtaking her and she was more terrified than she ever remembered being in her life. 

“Erica.” Stiles said as if from a long distance away, “Erica, look at me, come on Catwoman.” He repeated and Erica managed to meet his eyes, “Focus. Okay? Stay with me. It’s going to be fine.” Stiles repeated, his voice calming her, he looked wrecked, there was dried blood on his face, his skin was white, his heart beat racing, but he looked steady, calm, prepared to do battle and Erica couldn’t help but relax knowing that Stiles was there. 

“Nice of you to come Stiles.” Monica said in greeting and Stiles didn’t look away from Erica, just growled in her general direction. 

“Let her go.” He hissed and Erica felt the ground beneath her tremble. 

“I will. Of course. Right after you give me what I need.” Monica smirked.

DEREK

Derek had followed Stiles to the park, forcing himself to stay behind Stiles when he smelt Erica’s fear coming from up ahead. Physically having to put an arm out to stop Boyd from racing past Stiles and into certain danger. 

They entered the clearing a moment later and Derek took a moment to survey the scene. Monica was stood up, an empty bottle at her feet, she was smirking at them and Derek knew it meant bad things were going to happen. Percy and his pack were stood a little off to her right, Erica was struggling against Percy, his claws digging deeper with every movement but Erica seemed too panicked to realize she was in danger of tearing her own throat out. 

Derek went to take a step forward but Stiles held a hand out behind him, warning them to stay where they were, and stepped forwards into the empty clearing. He looked at Erica, only at Erica, and Derek watched in amazement as Erica calmed down enough to look at Stiles and relax slightly in Percy’s grip.

“I will. Of course. Right after you give me what I need.” Monica replied when Stiles ordered her to let Erica go. Derek’s heart started to race, what else could Monica possibly want from Stiles?

“Give me your word?” Stiles said and Derek could smell the anxiety on Stiles. It made him nervous. Something felt wrong about this. Something felt incredibly wrong. 

“Don’t. Stiles.” Erica called out and that was enough to make Derek step forward. Whatever Stiles was planning, Derek wasn’t going to let him do it. 

“Stay.” Monica ordered and Derek found he couldn’t move his feet. Stiles glanced back at Derek and his whole body tensed, pursing his lips in thought. 

“I see you’ve got more powerful Mon, already drunk the potion?” He said casually. She nodded, her smile predatory.

“Just need to seal the deal.” Monica replied taking a step towards Stiles who held his arms wide open as if to embrace her.

“You want it? Come and take it.” Stiles said, sounding defeated. 

“Stiles!” Erica called out and Derek strained against the magic holding him in place. He hadn’t been expecting Monica to surge forwards and pull Stiles into a deep kiss. He heard the shocked gasps from the rest of the pack but they were drowned out by the urge to protect Stiles. He was growling but there was nothing else he could do, not when a faint glow surrounded both of them, not when Monica seemed to deepen the kiss, nor when Stiles clung tightly to her, his knees buckling, losing all colour. Monica went down with him and them were kneeling on the ground, Monica still looking like she was sucking the life out of Stiles, Stiles had a hand tangled in her hair, holding her tightly when Monica seemed to be trying to pull away and Derek could see that tears were streaming down Stiles’ cheeks. 

A moment later Derek felt the spell snap from around him and then a blast echoed through the clearing and both Monica and Stiles were blasted backwards into the trees.

“Stiles!” He said racing towards him. Percy had let go of Erica in the blast and she raced across the clearing, clinging tightly to Boyd. The pack hurried across to where Stiles was sitting up groggily, holding his head where it was bleeding. His eyes were glowing a bright silver but they were unfocused and Derek wouldn’t be surprised if he had a concussion.

“Did it work?” Percy’s voice called out and Derek turned to see Monica getting to her feet unsteadily as well. Monica smirked lightly and waved her hands out in front of her. Derek braced himself, sure that they were about to be blasted off their feet, but nothing seemed to be happening and Monica was looking down at her hands in confusion.

“Looking for this bitch?” Stiles said and threw one hand forward knocking Monica off her feet and into the tree behind her. 

“What?” Percy spluttered, “How? I don’t, she was supposed to take your magic, how did you?” He trailed off looking at Monica and Stiles in confusion.

“Oh, you mean this?” Stiles said, and Derek watched in fascination as blue sparks started to appear at the end of Stiles’ fingertips and Percy paled considerably as Stiles took a step towards them. “Let me make one thing perfectly clear to you,” Stiles said threateningly and Derek grinned, “You ever hurt my pack again,” Derek was swelling with pride when he heard Stiles say they were his pack, not that he was a member of the pack, but that the pack was his, that they were under his protection, Derek couldn’t help but be incredibly aroused but he hoped the joy was covering that, “You ever even think about my pack again and this, this,” Stiles said waving his hand around in demonstration, “Will only be an inkling of the torture I’ll inflict on you before I finally put you out of your misery.” Stiles threw the blue sparks at Percy and his pack and Derek watched in wonder as they were all blasted backwards, scratching and clawing at their skin in pain before retreating from the clearing, terror in their eyes.

“What did you do?” He whispered in awe and Stiles risked a glance back at him before pulling his phone out of his pocket. 

“Magic.” Stiles said sarcastically and Derek started to laugh, relief making him feel more giddy than he thought possible. The rest of the pack joined in, laughing loudly in relief. Erica surged forwards and wrapped her arms around Stiles’ neck. 

“Thank you. Thank you so much.” She whispered and Stiles hugged her back cautiously, as if afraid she would pull away from him.

“Anytime.” Stiles replied and Erica was sobbing into his shoulder now. 

“She said she was going to strip your magic and kill us and then hand you over to Percy where you couldn’t defend yourself.” Erica mumbled, obviously hoping none of the others could hear it but it was evident they could from the way the whole pack tensed, including Stiles. 

“Yeah, well, she didn’t, so it’s okay.” Stiles said comfortingly. 

“How did you stop it?” Erica asked.

“Story for another time?” Stiles said, pulling away from Erica and moving towards Monica who was still struggling to get to her feet. 

“Yeah sure.” Erica said in reply and Derek was dying to know what Stiles had done, he pushed it to the back of his mind and concentrated instead on what was happening now. Stiles had bent down next to Monica and she was glaring at him with hatred in her eyes, Stiles was glaring right back.

“Tell me why.” Stiles growled and Monica continued to glare at him.

“I needed the blood.” She said and Stiles deflated slightly.

“So you paid someone to rape me?”

“No. He didn’t want any money. He just wanted to fuck you. He was going to do it one way or the other.” Monica smirked and Stiles paled slightly. 

“If you hadn’t have helped him he wouldn’t have got past the wards.” Stiles hissed. 

“And I wouldn’t have got what I needed.” Monica said casually, “Look, I didn’t know he was going to video it, I mean, it doesn’t change anything, I still would have helped him, but I didn’t know he was going to video it. If it makes you feel better, I used his heart in the spell, he won’t be coming back for you.”

“I was so wrong about you.” Stiles said coldly but Derek could smell the betrayal Stiles felt. He looked down at his phone and then dialled a number.

“Meg,” Stiles said as soon as the call connected, “I’ve got her. We’re in Mid park.” 

“You okay?” Meg said, Derek figured even she could tell that Stiles sounded distant and detached, he was probably in shock.

“Yeah. She’s harmless now. A human. I’ll wait until you get here.” Stiles said before disconnecting the call and looking down at Monica. “You’ll spend a long time in prison. A witness saw you leaving Mark’s body. Not to mention we all witnessed you trying to cast some sort of spell, like it was some kind of demonic summoning. You’re done Monica.” Stiles said and Monica started to yell obscenities at him.

“Enough!” Stiles roared and Monica was silenced. They waited for a few minutes in silence, Stiles pacing anxiously across the clearing until the sound of police sirens alerted them to Meg’s arrival. She appeared in the clearing a few minutes after that and she glanced across at Stiles, seeing the blood still smeared across his face and raising an eyebrow, a silent exchange to know that Stiles really was okay. He nodded tightly and Meg relaxed significantly. 

“Oh my god.” Jason said from near the front of the pack, “You smell amazing, like nearly as good as Stiles.” Jason said stepping towards Meg and Stiles glanced at Jason quickly. “What?” 

“I smell nice to you?” Stiles said and Jason nodded blushing. 

“Fuck. I thought that was just Percy’s pack.” Stiles mumbled, already heading over to Monica and hauling her to her feet. “Meg, meet Monica, our resident beheaderer. I’m not sure if that’s the right word, our resident murderer who likes to chop off people’s heads? Nah, I think I’m sticking with beheaderer, it has a nice ring to it.” Stiles rambled and Meg grinned at him while cuffing Monica. 

“Beheaderer it is.” Meg laughed. “You doing okay?” She asked quietly and Stiles nodded. 

“Bit hyped up, lots of excitement tonight. Think I probably need to lie down.” Stiles said and Meg nodded.

“You want a lift home?” She asked and then glanced across at the pack, “Although I can’t fit you all in?”

“Nah, it’s fine. Take her to the station. I’m sure she’ll confess to everything.” Stiles said, allowing a few sparks to drift from his fingers and in Monica’s direction.

“Yes.” Monica said desperately and the sparks fluttered towards her, “I’ll confess, I got the guy to rape Stiles and then I killed him, I killed that vampire earlier tonight, I attacked Jason, I attacked Stiles. I confess. Please, just, don’t.” She pleaded at Stiles and he clenched his fist and the sparks disappeared. 

Meg raised an eyebrow at him in amazement and he grinned at her. 

“You know if you ever get fed up of the acting career, I’m sure you’ll do great in law enforcement.” Meg commented and Stiles laughed. 

“Sure thing.” He said as they wandered out of the clearing and towards the entrance to the park. 

Amazingly there were already some reporters there, evidently not expecting to see both Stiles and Jason come out of the woods. Instantly there was uproar, people shouting for their attention, flashes from cameras in their eyes. Derek stuck close to Stiles, their shoulders almost bumping and glared at anyone who got too close to Stiles. 

“Stiles! Can you tell us what happened? Why are you covered in blood?” Stiles glanced down then and saw that his t-shirt was indeed covered in blood and he stared at it in horror for a moment before looking up at the reporter and grinning manically.

“Well, long story short, there was this vampire and I ran away and into the woods where I was attacked by a ghost who threw me into a tree.” Stiles grinned and the reporter laughed.

“Come on Stiles, the real story, what’s going on? Why are the police here?” 

“Real story?” Stiles questioned and the reporter nodded, “Real story is we were walking through the park and I tripped and fell on a tree root. As for the police, that’s police business.” Stiles said in a tone that meant there was no room for negotiation and the reporter smiled again. 

“You do keep things interesting.” She commented and Stiles shrugged. 

“Well, you guys seem to think it’s interesting, personally I don’t see anything interesting in falling over a lot, but guess there’s a reason I don’t write the news.” Stiles said easily and the reporter laughed again. 

“What about you guys?” The reporter asked and Derek realized she was talking to the whole pack, “Can I get a comment on Stiles? Something to put in a story?” 

“Yeah.” Scott said easily, “He’s one of a kind. Now, can you please move out of the way, we’d like to go home.” Scott said, throwing an arm around Stiles’ shoulder and practically pushing past the reporter. Derek couldn’t help but grin, Stiles was with them, they were pack. 

By the time they got back to the apartment they were all exhausted, they all flopped onto the sofa apart from Stiles who headed into his room and reappeared a moment later with a book tucked under his arm. He headed into the kitchen and Derek watched as he grabbed a drink from the fridge before settling into one of the stools and starting to scrawl in the book.

“Stiles,” Derek said quietly, “What are you doing?” 

“Hmm?” Stiles replied distractedly.

“What are you doing?” Derek repeated, not having enough energy to get off the sofa.

“Just writing down some stuff.” Stiles replied and Jason huffed. 

“Maybe you should go get a shower. You still smell of blood.” 

“Yeah.” Stiles said a moment later, “Blood is bad.” He said dully, pulling at his t-shirt and looking at it sadly. “I liked this t-shirt.” 

“I’m sure you can get another one.” Jason said seriously.

“Yeah.” Stiles sighed, “Anyway, doesn’t matter.” He said, getting off the stool and heading towards the bathroom. 

“Stiles.” Jason called and Stiles looked at him, “You okay?”

“Yeah. Just tired.” Stiles said, rubbing at his eyes.

“Maybe you should sleep first.” John said, “Have a shower in the morning.” He got up from the sofa and walked over to where Stiles was standing, looking a little lost. 

“But I smell like blood.” Stiles said.

“Nobody cares.” John said, putting an arm around Stiles’ shoulders and pulling him towards the sofas.

“Well, Jason won’t care, I’m going to smell awesome to him no matter what.” Stiles said tiredly, his eyes already dropping closed before John had even got him to the sofa and Jason blushed slightly.

Derek moved over as John sat Stiles down on the sofa and a moment later they all heard soft snores start. Stiles was dead to the world.

“What was that?” Jason said, “I’ve never seen him drop off like that.”

“It’s been a big night. He’s probably exhausted.” Lydia said, getting up and strolling to look at the book on the kitchen counter.

“What’s he writing about?” Allison asked, fighting off a yawn. Lydia studied the book for a moment and then picked it up and headed into Stiles’ room, reappearing a few minutes later with another book under her arm. 

“This,” She said indicating the book she’d picked up in the kitchen, “is Stiles day-to-day journal. What he’s encountered and when and if they were friendly or not so friendly, what he knows about them.”

“So a beastiary?” Scott asked.

“No.” Lydia said, pulling out the other, much larger, book, “This is the beastiary.” She said flipping it open and showing the information inside. “Stiles has filed them alphabetically, he’s got drawings of them, labelled locations of where you are likely to find them, how to find them, what powers they might possess, if they are peaceful or violent, likelihood of them fighting you, how to get rid of them if necessary, the lists just go on.” Lydia said and they all piled around to look through the beastiary. 

“That says demons.” Jason said a moment later, “Like, honest to god demons?” He said his voice squeaking. 

“Why the hell are angels more likely to attack you than a demon?” Isaac said as they flicked through the pages. 

“Maybe it’s in his notes.” Boyd said and picked up Stiles’ journal and flicked through the pages. 

“It smells like blood too.” Erica said and Derek could get a whiff of blood from his position next to Stiles on the sofa. 

“Let’s talk about it tomorrow. For now, let’s just be grateful we have each other and sleep.” Derek said, already leaning his head back and closing his eyes. 

When Derek woke up it was to the feeling of Stiles’ head resting on his shoulder and the smell of freshly brewed coffee, he glanced around the room and saw Lydia sitting in the kitchen, reading through the beastiary and sipping at a cup of coffee. John was reading over one shoulder and Erica and Allison were reading Stiles’ journal, a small smile on their faces at different points and frowns at others. The rest of the pack was still fast asleep and Derek smiled softly when he saw that they were all gathered around him and Stiles. 

This was how it should be, Stiles at his side. He would give Stiles some time to recover and then he’d have to tell him how he felt, surely Stiles would at least give him a chance right? He put a hand around Stiles’ shoulder, silently pulling him closer and then drifted back to sleep easily. 

When he next woke up Stiles was gone, the rest of the pack was spread out across the apartment and Derek could hear the shower running in the other room indicating where Stiles was.

“Finally!” Lydia huffed, “We’ve been waiting for you to wake up for ages!”

Derek rubbed the sleep from his eyes and blinked up at her tiredly. He hadn’t slept so well in ages and it was taking his body a little bit of time to wake up. 

“Everyone okay?” Derek asked and tried not to grin when everyone muttered reassurances. Jason was sat on the opposite sofa with Boyd who was slowly talking him through how to find your anchor and how it helped you to keep control. Jason had taken off the bracelet that Stiles had given him and seemed to be keeping control quite well, Derek figured that only time would tell.

Lydia had pulled out several other books and was reading through them, as were most of the rest of the pack, all of them with intense looks of fascination on their faces.

“If half of these spells are true then Stiles has been doing a lot more stuff than is natural.” Jackson muttered reading through a book of spells and looking slightly terrified. 

“Kind of the point of with witch craft, don’t you think?” Erica replied with a smirk and Jackson rolled his eyes. 

“You know they have one here that can destroy your enemies’ senses, stop them from hearing or seeing. That’s pretty intense.” Jackson said, slowly flipping the page.

“That’s actually where I got the idea from with the bracelet.” Stiles said stepping into the room, ignoring the way that everyone turned to look at him and instead looking at Jackson, “I figured if I could numb it down enough then I could just dull the senses rather than numb them completely. The idea was that I could use it when everything became too much. But obviously Jason got to try it out first.” Stiles said, heading across to the kitchen. 

Derek was trying not to stare, Stiles looked so soft and adorable, he was wearing joggers that were a bit too long for him and covered his bare feet and a long sleeved jumper that again, was too long and covered his hands. His hair was still damp from the shower and was curling softly around the nape of his neck. He still looked pale, still had a bruise on his cheek and a split lip, but otherwise he looked okay, even if he maybe looked a little uneasy.

“How are you feeling?” John asked as soon as Stiles reached the kitchen and poured himself a cup of coffee.

“Okay.” Stiles said sighing when John raised an eyebrow in question, “Honestly, I’m alright.” Stiles said, heading across to the living room and sitting down in one of the armchairs, pulling his legs up and snuggling down into the chair. 

“You don’t look it.” Lydia said stiffly and Stiles smirked into his coffee.

“When have I ever looked it?” Stiles replied sarcastically. 

“Well, you didn’t look half bad in the last series.” Allison said and Stiles blushed.

“So, enjoying the books?” Stiles said, trying to change the subject quickly.

“Yeah.” Isaac said enthusiastically. “I hope you don’t mind us reading your journal?” 

“Nah,” Siles shrugged, “I’m pretty impressed you can actually read it, I usually write it when I get in after an encounter, not usually in the best place after that.” Stiles said and Derek tried not to worry about how many bruises and cuts and scrapes Stiles had suffered in the past year and a half.

“Well,” Lydia said forcefully and Stiles tensed slightly, “If you’re feeling okay, then I’d love an explanation for what happened last night?”

“Erm,” Stiles looked down at his coffee like it would have all the answers and then glanced back up to see them all staring at him, “Okay, so the spell was supposed to boost Monica’s powers.” 

“Yes we know that.” Jason said impatiently.

“Yeah, well, the potion she drank gave her the boost, but for her to actually seal it, to get it to last, she needed to drain another caster of their power. It’s sort of like, it shows the dedication to the spell she’s casting, it’s not easy to drain other casters.” Derek frowned but refrained from saying anything as Stiles continued, “If you were going to do it, you’d go after someone with less power than you, the less power the less likely they are to be able to fight it. With the power boost Monica was around level eighty so obviously most casters would be less powerful than her.” 

“So you are more powerful than Monica was after drinking the potion?” Boyd asked for clarification.

“I guess.” Stiles mumbled, “I didn’t know if I’d be able to fight it or not, but she knew she had to try to get my powers, otherwise she wouldn’t be able to complete the deal with Percy.”

“Which was what exactly?” Jason said, gritting his teeth.

“Well, Percy wanted me human, that sounds wrong. I’m still human, I just have the ability to do magic. But Percy didn’t want me to have magic. He figured I’d put up too much of a fight. So he agreed to help Monica and in return, she’d kill you and take my powers.”

“But the spell didn’t work.” Scott said, “Why didn’t the spell work?”

“See, the spell was sort of like an elastic band, she tried to pull my powers from me and I fought it as best as I could. When she couldn’t draw all my power the elastic band kept getting tighter and tighter until it snapped.”

“But then how did Monica lose her powers? Where did they go?” Derek asked curiously and Stiles blushed.

“I guess, when Monica was trying to pull my powers she was using her own, when the spell snapped all her power got pushed into me.” Stiles muttered and Derek took a moment to compose himself.

“Did you know that you’d be powerful enough to beat her?” John asked and Stiles looked at him guiltily. 

“Not definitely, but I didn’t have any other option. Percy would have killed Erica if I hadn’t and then he would have attacked and I didn’t want to lose you.” Stiles said in reply and Derek felt his heart swell with love.

“Just so I understand,” Derek started and Stiles looked up at him, “Monica was at level eighty, you were powerful enough to fight her off, putting you at least around level eighty,” Stiles nodded, “And when the spell broke, it shoved her power into you?” Stiles nodded again, “Making you like level one hundred and sixty?” 

“Yeah, although, obviously it’s not like an exact science, it just sort of rough idea, it’s not like we actually have a book of spells called level one, level two etc. It’s just sort of the complication of the spells and stuff.”

“But you are more powerful than anyone else you know?” Erica beamed

“Maybe?” Stiles hesitated, “I don’t know. I know that I’m more powerful than I was. But I don’t know what that means exactly. Not yet anyway.” 

“How will you find out?” Allison asked.

“King of research over here, or did you forget that?” Stiles joked and Allison laughed.

“How could I? Your beastiary puts ours to shame.” Allison smiled and Stiles let out a little laugh, looking at the book in her lap. There was a lull in the conversation and Derek risked another glance at Stiles. 

“Would you think about coming home?” He asked and the whole room went silent. Stiles looking at him with wide eyes. “I know I messed up, but we miss you and maybe, now you know what happened, maybe you’d think about coming home?” 

Stiles looked down at his nearly empty mug and Derek felt like his heart was about to burst out of his chest, what if Stiles really didn’t want to come back? 

“Well, actually, I have a new movie to film.” Stiles said quietly and Jason grinned happily, “But,” Stiles said when it looked like everyone was about to protest, “It’s on location. I wasn’t sure if I should take the part or not. It was too close to home. But I figure, maybe I could take the job and come home in the evenings?” Stiles said, glancing up at John with something like worry in his eyes.

“Of course you can.” John said, smiling happily as Stiles smiled back in return.

“So you’ll come back?” Scott asked giddily and Stiles nodded, yelping in surprise when Scott jumped on him. “Man, we’ve missed you so much! I can’t wait until you get home. Harris despises you, I can’t wait to see his face when you roll back into town.” 

“Not really the best encouragement there Scotty.” Stiles laughed.

“No. I’m serious. He was so fucking bitter when your movie came out. He was all like, ‘Oh, Stilinski’s run off to make it in Hollywood, well, he’ll fail blah, blah, blah.’ When it came out and was such a huge success he was so mad, he actually had a little tantrum in the classroom. I cannot wait to see him literally explode at the sight of you!” Scott said, the pack laughing at his impression of Harris. 

“Sounds good.” Stiles grinned. “I should probably make a few calls though, check that they still want me and all that.” 

“I keep telling you to get an agent!” Jason shouted as Stiles started to leave the room. 

“I keep telling you to stay out of my business, but that hasn’t worked so far!” Stiles called back teasingly. 

Derek could hear him on the phone, firstly to the director of the movie, who’d actually squealed in delight when Stiles said he’d do it. When he called Meg and asked about Monica, Derek actually went into Stiles’ room. He sprawled across the bed and Stiles raised an eyebrow at him but Derek just ignored him. If Derek wanted to be in here and listen while Stiles talked to Meg then there was nothing anyone else could do about it.

When Stiles finished the call he stood at the end of the bed and glared at Derek.

“What are you doing?” He said in confusion.

“Thought I’d keep you company.” Derek said in reply, smiling when Stiles blushed slightly.

“Well, don’t get used to it.” Stiles said grumpily, turning to his wardrobe and starting to put stuff in his bag, “Just because I’m coming home doesn’t mean you get to boss me about.” Stiles said and Derek nodded.

“Wouldn’t dream of it.” He said and Stiles rolled his eyes. 

“Good.” He said heading towards the door. 

“Where are you going?” Derek asked and Stiles groaned.

“I’m going out. Is that okay oh mighty Alpha?” Stiles replied angrily and Derek took a step back. 

“Yeah. Sure. Want company?” Derek asked.

“Nope.” Stiles said quickly and headed for the door. 

“You doing it?” Jason shouted from one of the sofas. 

“Yes!” Stiles called back. 

“Do I get to come with?” 

“If you want!” Stiles said, a hand already on the door. 

“When do we leave?” 

“When I get back.” Stiles shouted before opening the door and leaving the apartment. 

“Where’s he going?” Jason asked and Derek shrugged.

“Probably to redo the wards.” Lydia said, holding up the journal. “It says he goes once a month to those three bars and redo’s the wards.” 

“Oh.” Derek said, “Okay. He’ll be alright though won’t he?” Derek said and everyone in the room sighed. 

“Seriously?” Isaac said rolling his eyes, “When are you telling him you’re his mate?” 

“Not yet.” Derek hissed angrily, suddenly panicked that Stiles might have come back and heard it. Instead he spent the rest of the day worrying that something was going to happen to him while he was out and alternating between sitting on the sofa and watching the news and then pacing around the apartment as Jason packed his bags.

When Stiles did get back, hours later, he looked exhausted but he had a small smile on his face seeing how excited Jason was. 

By the time they’d packed up and headed toward the airport Stiles was a bag of nerves, his leg shaking the entire time they were sat waiting for the plane.

“You okay?” Derek said, placing a hand on Stiles’ knee to keep it still. 

“Fine.” Stiles replied, stilling under Derek’s hand. “Just nervous I guess. They want to start shooting next week and there’s a lot to do before then.” 

“Like what?” Derek asked. 

“A million things.” Stiles said, running a hand through his hair. “I should get my script tomorrow morning though, Andrea said she’d send it special delivery so I should at least be able to make a start on that.”

“So what’s this one about?” Derek said, trying to keep Stiles talking, he’d missed him so much, it was nice to hear Stiles ramble on.

“Well, it’s a bit of a gritty comedy really. I’m going to play this guy who’s quite immature,”

“No acting required.” Derek input. Stiles laughed.

“Funny! Well, yeah, I’m a bit immature and maybe don’t take things overly seriously. Except then I witness a murder and this CIA spy tracks me down and I work alongside him, cracking jokes etc, basically trying to keep this CIA spy from losing their shit and shooting up the entire town.”

“Sounds good.” Derek said.

“I think it’ll sound better when I’ve read the script, I mean I went in for an audition and did a read through of my character, which they obviously liked, otherwise they wouldn’t have offered me the job. But, these things can be taken out of context and so, yeah, I just need to get my head down and get in touch with the character.”

“I’m sure you’ll be brilliant.” Derek said, “You’re an impressive actor. You suck the audience in. There’s times when I’ve forgotten I’m watching a programme, like you really could be stood next to me and telling me about vampires and ghosts and stuff.” Derek realized that he was rambling and abruptly shut up but Stiles was staring at him with an odd gaze.

“You watch the programme?”

“Of course I do.” Derek said quickly, “I love it. It’s got everything I could want.” Derek continued, not saying the only thing he could ever really want would be Stiles at his side. 

“Oh.” Stiles said blushing, “Well, I’m glad you like it.” He said, “I went to Elsie’s earlier.” Stiles volunteered, changing the subject quickly, “I renewed her wards. They felt a lot stronger than anything I’ve done before. I told her that I think they’ll last longer and to call when she starts to notice them breaking.”

“That’s good.” Derek said, standing as their plane started boarding. 

“Yeah. Probably don’t want to be flying back out here every month while I’m filming.”

“What about when you’re done? You going to move back here while you film the next season?”

“I don’t know yet.” Stiles admitted, “There’s a lot to process, a lot’s happened in the past few weeks and really, I don’t know. People always say you shouldn’t make big decisions when you’ve suffered a trauma, and yet here I am, accepting a role I’m not sure about and moving back home which I’m also not sure about.”

“Why not? Stiles you belong with us.” Derek said panicked.

“I think a part of me knows that.” Stiles said, “But, if I’m honest, I’m scared.” He paused, obviously thinking over his next words. “I just, I don’t know that I can go back to the way things were.” Derek waited for more information, “I’m not just a researcher Derek, and I don’t want you to put me on research duty. I know you think you need to look out for me, but I’m not as defenceless as I was, and not just that, I know more about this stuff than you guys. I’ve lived it. I think I can be a real asset to the pack now and I don’t want to pushed aside.”

“Stiles,” Derek said softly, “You’ve always been an asset to the pack. There wouldn’t have even been a pack without you. Do you honestly think Scott and I could have managed to get along without you? We do now, but that’s because you made us work together. Stiles, you have no idea how many times I thought about coming out here and taking you home. You belong with us and I’ll do anything I can to convince you of that.” Stiles blushed brightly, obviously rendered speechless for a moment.

“When did you start using words?” Stiles laughed, “Finally decided against physical assault?” Derek laughed loudly.

“I can still do that if you’d prefer?” He smirked and Stiles blushed brighter.

“Nah, it’s cool. Talking works for me.” Stiles said, glancing at him before John approached and threw an arm around Stiles’ shoulder. 

“Ready to head home kiddo?”

“More than.” Stiles grinned, heading towards the plane.

Three months later and Stiles was living at John’s again. He’d come home in the evenings and find at least a few members of the pack there, except for Friday nights when they all continued to meet up. Jason was staying in one of the rooms and the rebuilt Hale house and working on his control, improving every day, Derek couldn’t help but be impressed with the guy, it was easy to see why Stiles and Jason got on so easily. Stiles had called Elsie a few times but apparently the wards were still holding strong and she reassured him that she would call as soon as she needed him. Derek still hadn’t found a way to tell Stiles that he was crazy about him and the pack seemed to be losing their patience with his excuses. 

The first month Stiles had been a bit erratic, snapping at them sometimes, crying others. Derek didn’t know what to do to help and it had taken Stiles sitting on the porch outside, sobbing brokenly, Derek putting an arm around his shoulder and pulling him into a hug until Stiles admitted that he maybe wasn’t handling it brilliantly. 

Derek had listened as Stiles explained about how much he hated it, how he couldn’t remember much of it, but what he could, he just felt pain and fear, when Stiles closed his eyes at night, it was that night that he dreamt of, feeling powerless and unable to stop it. Derek managed to convince him to see a therapist and once Stiles started going there he did seem to act more like his old self. It made Derek love him even more, seeing him come through something so awful and only get stronger from it, and he couldn’t help himself from staring at Stiles whenever they spoke. 

Eventually the papers managed to snap a picture of Derek looking at Stiles when Stiles was chatting to Jason and then, naturally, every one of them started publishing any photos they had of Stiles with Derek, talking about how they’d been a couple for years, that Derek was jealous of his relationship with Jason. How Sterek (yes they had a couple’s name) was coping in the aftermath of everything that had happened.

When Derek had seen the papers he’d paled. Surely Stiles deserved to find out a better way than this? When Stiles had seen the papers, coming home after a long day on set, to find the whole pack watching the television at John’s and waiting for him, he’d snorted with laughter.

“Yeah, as if!” He laughed and Derek felt hurt ripping through him, did Stiles really not see them together at all? “I mean, come on, as if someone like you would ever be interested in me. Idiots!” Stiles laughed before disappearing upstairs for a shower. 

The whole pack had glared at him and he’d blushed brightly. 

“You need to tell him.” Lydia said, “Otherwise I will.” Derek paled.

“Alright, I will, just give me a bit more time. Please?” He pleaded and the whole pack looked unsure before eventually nodding.

“You have a week.” Scott said, “After that I’m telling him.”

“Okay.” Derek mumbled, unsure how he was going to do this.

The rest of the week passed uneventfully and soon it was Friday night and the whole pack was gathering at John’s. Derek knew he was going to have to tell Stiles tonight, there was no other way around it, he was going to wait until everyone had left and then just tell him. It wouldn’t be that bad right? What was the worst Stiles could do? Say no? Okay, yes, that would be pretty bad. Derek was nervous, he was sweating, he was pacing around the room. He didn’t know how he was going to make it through the night without just blurting it out. 

He'd expected Stiles home by now and he could tell the pack was getting worried too. When John called and Stiles’ phone went straight to voicemail Derek began to really panic. Was he hurt? Had he left again? Had he somehow found out about Derek wanting him as a mate and run as far away as possible?

“Guys…” Jackson said, pointing at the television, turning the volume up, his face pale. Derek froze. 

“… behind me is the house where Stiles Stilinski has been shooting his latest film.” The house was burning, the whole thing crumbling to the ground, he couldn’t breathe, all he could think about was his family burning, the screams, the pain. “We have been informed from a reliable source that an arsonist set the house on fire earlier this evening while several people were still inside including Stiles…”

“We need to go.” John said numbly, unable to tear his eyes away from the screen, “We need to go now.” He said, finally stumbling towards the door, everyone else following him. What could they do? There was nothing they could do. Stiles was trapped, Stiles was dying.

Derek’s heart was beating so loudly that he couldn’t hear anything else, all he could think of was Stiles, burning, screaming. He couldn’t breathe. 

John wrenched the door open and let out a little sob, Derek looked around him and saw Stiles standing on the porch, his key raised as if to put it in the lock. He was covered in ash, looked exhausted and he stank of smoke, but he was alive, his heart beat loud in the silence.

“Stiles!” John cried, pulling him into a tight hug, tears running down his cheeks. The rest of the pack continuing the movement and creating a huge hug with Stiles at the centre. Derek saw camera flashes start from at the end of the garden and pushed everyone inside before slamming the door behind him. 

“Are you okay?” “What happened?” “Are you hurt?” “Who started it?” The whole pack asked and Stiles looked a little overwhelmed.

“Enough.” Derek growled and Stiles glanced at him gratefully. “Are you alright?” 

“Yeah.” Stiles said, clearing his throat quickly, “I’m fine. Everyone’s fine. We all got out.” 

There was silence in the room and Derek could hear the reporter from the television still talking.

“…escaped the burning building. The only person now left unaccounted for is the arsonist who started this. Here with us now is set hand Mark Owen who managed to escape the burning house just recently. Mark can you tell us what happened in there?”

Stiles groaned in despair.

“Sure.” Mark said, a wide grin on his face despite the fact he was covered in ash, “There were five of us on the third floor, we’d finished shooting for the day and Stiles was helping us clean up the mess. He’d tripped over and brought a bookshelf down.”

Derek raised his eyebrows incredulously at Stiles who only blushed. 

“Seriously?” Scott laughed and Stiles shrugged, blushing brighter.

“Anyway, we were tidying up and this guy just ran up the stairs, burst open the door and then there was fire and smoke and we were all panicking.” Mark said, still grinning like an idiot, “But, Stiles, he was, he was just so calm. Like it didn’t faze him in the slightest. He was just super calm and he kept the guy talking and kept pushing us backwards towards the window. I didn’t realize it at first, but we had some scaffolding set up from the previous days’ shoot and we hadn’t taken it down and Stiles, it was like he just knew. So we got out the window and managed to start climbing down. I was waiting for Stiles to get out, but he was still talking to the arsonist. Trying to persuade him to come out with us, get to safety.” Mark paused, “I think he nearly had him convinced. I think Stiles thought so too, because he reached out for him and the guy batted his hand away and then the floor gave way and the guy fell.” 

“So, the arsonist fell through the floor?” The reporter asked for clarification.

“Yeah. Stiles looked gutted.” Mark added, “He’s a great guy. Great to work with, great to talk to. I really feel for him. In that worse case scenario and all he could think about was helping us and helping this guy. He’s amazing.”

The whole pack turned to look at Stiles who was glaring at the floor.

“I think I need a shower.” Stiles said looking at his clothes. “I need to get rid of this smell.”

“You smell fine.” Jason said and Stiles cracked a grin.

“You have to say that.” Stiles said, “I could be covered in crap and you’d still say that.” Stiles smirked.

“It’s not like I’m the only one, seriously, I bet Jackson and Isaac are both fighting the urge to jump you right now!” Jason said laughing and Stiles paled.

“Sorry what?” He said, looking at the two men in question. 

“Oops.” Jason said suddenly looking at Stiles with horror. “I mean, erm, it’s just…” He fumbled for his words.

“It’s alright Jason.” Isaac said, smiling at him, “Look, Stiles, we were going to tell you.”

“Tell me what?” Stiles said, horror spreading across his face.

“Well, you smell like a potential mate to me.” Isaac said.

“And me.” Jackson confessed.

“Me too.” Scott mumbled.

“And both of us.” Erica smirked and Boyd raised an eyebrow at his girlfriend’s antics.

“Fucking Alpha werewolves.” Stiles muttered and the whole pack froze.

“Sorry what?” Lydia said.

“Oh, right, yeah, well, when I found out that I smelt like a mate to that other pack, well, I obviously researched like an insane person. Apparently it means that I’m a true mate to some Alpha werewolf somewhere. I thought it was only their pack who smelt it, and Jason, as Percy’s beta, even if only by bite, could smell it because of that, but obviously you guys get it too.” 

“Right.” Allison said, looking around in amusement as it became obvious that Stiles didn’t think the Alpha in question was in the room.

“So you are true mate to an Alpha?” Boyd said and Stiles nodded, rubbing a hand at the back of his neck.

“I guess so. But, I mean, I don’t know. How can you be true mates with someone you’ve never even met?” Stiles said and half the room had to stifle a laugh. 

“And you’re sure you haven’t met this alpha?” Erica said smirking. 

“I’m pretty sure. Unless it was Percy?” Stiles said, looking terrified, “Although that’s not an issue any more so I would have thought the mate thing would have ended when he fell.” He gestured to the television.

“What?” John squeaked. “Percy was the arsonist!?”

“Yeah.” Stiles said sadly, “Yeah. I tried to talk him around, tried to get him to come out. But he wouldn’t. I tried to grab him, make him come, but then the floor gave and he fell and…” Stiles’ voice trailed off and he looked close to tears. “I’m going to get a shower.” He said a moment later, “If I can smell the smoke then you guys must be able to too.” He said and then disappeared off up the stairs.

“You’re telling him when he comes back downstairs.” Lydia said and Derek gulped.

“I don’t think now is the best time.” Derek replied, “I mean, Percy’s just tried to kill him and there’s been a fire and stuff.”

“Now Derek.” Lydia demanded and Derek sighed. “You do it or I do.” 

“Alright.” Derek said, “When he gets back downstairs.” 

They waited in silence, watching the news report on the television as they continued to report on the fire, the damage caused, and apparently the biggest sensation, Stiles’ heroic moment. Derek had tried not to laugh at that. If these people knew how much Stiles risked to keep them safe on a daily basis then this would be considered small in the scheme of things.

Stiles came down a little while later, looking just as exhausted but at least clean and he didn’t stink of smoke anymore. 

“So, is he definitely dead?” John asked and Stiles frowned.

“Pretty sure. He fell through the floor into the fire. I know werewolves are immune to most stuff, but I’m pretty sure he won’t have survived it.”

“Did he say why?” Scott asked.

“Not really, just rambling on about how it wasn’t fair and I couldn’t take it all away from him and I was his and shit. Thankfully I don’t think any of the others caught on that I knew him or that I knew what he was on about.” Stiles said, grabbing a cup of hot chocolate and wandering over to the sofa.

“Well, on a happier note,” Lydia said, beaming at Derek, “Let’s talk about this whole True Mate thing. That’s a pretty big deal right?” 

“I’m going to head to the station.” John said suddenly, “I’ve got paperwork to do and stuff.” He explained. Derek thought it was a poor excuse, but he could understand why John didn’t want to be in house while they discussed Stiles’ love life. 

“See you later daddio!” Stiles called as John practically ran from the house.

“So,” Lydia prompted, “Mates?”

“I don’t know what you want me to say Lyds.” Stiles said leaning back against the sofa and closing his eyes, “It’s not like I know anything other than that.”

“Okay, but what about when you meet them? What are you going to say?” Isaac said and Derek tried not to gaze at Stiles as he pursed his lips in thought.

“I don’t know. I’d probably punch them for making me wait so long. Then kiss them, because, you know, mates and everything.” Derek tried not to get aroused at the thought of Stiles kissing him.

“What if you don’t like them?” Jason asked, “Would you consider someone else as your mate instead?” He winked and Stiles laughed.

“No. I don’t think it works that way.” He said seriously, “I mean I’m not the werewolf expert here or anything, but True Mates, I think that even if I didn’t like them to begin with, I would eventually. I mean, how I understand it, you’re like soulmates. I don’t think another mate would ever be an option.” Stiles said and Derek fought off a sigh. He knew that Jason had only been teasing, but the idea of Stiles being with someone else made his hackles rise. 

“Aww,” Erica cooed, “That’s so sweet.” Stiles blushed at the compliment, “It’s such a shame we don’t know who she is.”

“Well, I don’t even know if it’s definitely a girl. I mean,” Stiles blushed, “Not to say that I wouldn’t be happy if she was a girl, but probably equally as happy if it was a guy.” Stiles swallowed loudly, “Like, erm, not, like, erm, what I mean is, soulmates. I don’t think gender really matters in that scenario.”

“Stiles.” Derek said and his voice broke slightly with nerves, so what if everyone was shooting glances his way? He needed to say this and he needed to say it now. He took a deep breath. “I think you need to punch me.” Stiles looked at him in surprise, a half smile on his lips.

“Sure, okay and why would I do that?” Stiles said, “What’ve you done?” Derek gaped, had he not made it clear enough. The snorts of laughter around the room made him think that perhaps he didn’t. Especially as Stiles was looking around at them in confusion.

“Well,” Derek sighed, blushing softly, “You said you’d probably punch your mate.” 

Stiles’ mouth dropped open in surprise, his eyes going comically wide as he took in the new information. He looked around the room at the pack who were all smirking widely.

“Out!” Stiles said jumping up from the sofa. “All of you out!” He said and the whole pack looked shocked at the anger rolling off Stiles. Derek went to move but Stiles glared at him. “Oh no! Not you buddy boy. You stay right where you are.” The pack glanced back at Derek and he nodded at them reassuringly before they disappeared out the door.

“Stiles,” He started turning back towards Stiles. He didn’t expect the fist to connect solidly with his jaw and it knocked him backwards into the end of the sofa with the force of it. “What the hell Stiles!?” He said, cradling his jaw. It didn’t overly hurt, it was more shock than anything, but still, Stiles had hit him.

“How long have you known?” Stiles said, practically vibrating with rage.

“I, Stiles,” Derek said, unsure how to proceed but Stiles just glared at him until he caved, “Since I met you.” 

“What?” Stiles said his mouth hanging open in shock.

“The day I met you in the woods, I’ve known since then.” Derek said, terrified of looking at Stiles, instead fixing his gaze on a patch of carpet near his feet. Stiles was silent and the longer the silence stretched the more uncomfortable Derek felt. 

Stiles approached him and tilted his chin up so that he was looking him in the eyes.

“I’m going to believe that you had absolutely incredible reasons for not telling me this and I really don’t want to know what they are, because I might have to punch you again if they are stupid reasons and I don’t think my hand can take any more. I’m still going to call you a complete idiot though.” Stiles said thoughtfully before leaning forward and pecking Derek quickly on the lips. 

Derek sat there stunned, of all the things he’d expected Stiles to do, it hadn’t been that. 

“Erm,” Derek said and then cleared his throat, blushing brightly and feeling incredibly relieved. 

“I also said I’d probably kiss him after, because, you know, the whole soulmates thing.” Stiles said, taking a step backwards, out of reach, he looked quite nervous as if expecting Derek to attack him at any moment. “I’m really hoping that one of your reasons wasn’t because you didn’t want me, otherwise I’m going to feel like an even bigger idiot.” Stiles said and Derek sprung into movement, jumping off the end of the sofa and grabbing hold of Stiles by his forearms.

“Of course not.” Derek said intensely, “Stiles, I want you more than anything I’ve ever wanted. I’d be an idiot not to want to be with you. But I thought it was for the best, first because you were so young and why would you want me? I mean, I don’t deal with emotions well and I’m stubborn and grumpy and there’s so much wrong with me and you’re everything that I’m not. You’re perfect.” Stiles looked close to tears. 

“Please tell me you had better reasons than that?” Stiles said, choking out a half laugh, half sob.

“Depends, are you going to punch me again if I keep talking?” Derek said and Stiles actually laughed this time.

“I was thinking of maybe kissing you again actually.” Stiles said, blushing softly. 

“That would be okay with me.” Derek said and Stiles grinned. Derek leaned forward, running one of his hands up Stiles arm and around the back of his neck, pulling him towards him. He couldn’t help but look down at Stiles’ lips when he licked them with nerves. His eyes tracking the movement which he was sure Stiles noticed. He couldn’t help the smile on his lips, he’d never imagined actually being able to do this with Stiles. Their lips met and Derek sighed in relief when Stiles didn’t pull away. He pressed against Stiles more insistently, their bodies coming closer, pressing flush against each other as Derek continued to hold Stiles close, sucking slowly on Stiles’ bottom lip and making Stiles groan with pleasure. Derek wanted to hear that noise again and again. 

After a few minutes they broke away panting and Derek was achingly hard, wanting nothing more than to claim Stiles right then. Stiles was smiling happily at him and Derek felt his heart skip a beat.

“So, well, that was new.” Stiles said, “I wouldn’t mind doing it again though?” Stiles asked and Derek nodded quickly, his mind still too caught up in the feel of Stiles to be able to form words. 

They spent the next hour just talking, Stiles calling him an idiot over and over, his tone was full of affection though and Derek couldn’t help but grin. Eventually Scott called to make sure they were both still alive and then had congratulated them loudly, along with the rest of the pack, and informed them that they’d be back soon with pizza. All of them laughing loudly when Stiles scent had decreased a lot and he no longer smelt like a mate to any of them. Derek assumed it would disappear completely when he finally claimed Stiles properly. Stiles had sighed dramatically and Derek had laughed. Secretly he’d been so relieved. The last thing he wanted was any of them competing for Stiles. 

Stiles held his hand for the rest of the night and Derek had never felt happier with his life. They took things slowly, after all just because they were soulmates didn’t mean that they didn’t still argue. Stiles was still too reckless, Derek hated seeing him in danger, but Stiles was also a lot more capable of defending himself and the rest of the pack than he had been.

Stiles finished filming the movie and had managed to make new protection charms for them, ones that didn’t leave him bleeding and in pain, apparently Monica hadn’t been very honest with the wards, surprisingly. The new ones were much better, Stiles felt if they were activated but there were no other side effects. He even managed to spell them so that the others would all know if they were activated. That way, no matter where they were, they’d always know if one of them was in trouble.

“What about the new season?” Jason asked him late one night while they were watching a movie at Derek’s, Stiles was cuddled up against him and Derek smiled happily. “We need to go back to start filming in a couple of weeks, you really want to go back to LA?” 

“Actually,” Stiles said, sounding nervous, “I wanted to talk to you about that.” Jason looked up at him in worry.

“You are coming back aren’t you? The show won’t survive without you.” Jason said panicking slightly.

“Yeah I am.” Stiles said, “But, actually,” He glanced to Derek who nodded in encouragement, “I spoke to Andy last week.” Jason nodded eagerly, “I discussed about maybe moving the studio closer to home. I mean, I didn’t know if you would mind that? But I know you weren’t overly happy in LA and if I’m honest, neither was I, I mean obviously, if you don’t want to then yeah, of course, we’ll go back out there, but this, this is home and I think I’ve spent too much time away from it already.” Stiles rambled nervously and Jason looked shocked.

“Andy said okay?” He asked and Stiles nodded.

“He said it was fine, he’d been thinking that I would probably ask and so he’d looked into some good locations about an hour from here. I know it means extra work, you know, actually getting up an hour earlier and stuff, but I thought it would be good. But if you don’t want to, then it’s fine.”

“Are you kidding me?” Jason said jumping up and hugging Stiles tightly, “This is the best thing anyone has ever done for me. I hated LA. Absolutely hated it. You were the only person there that I actually liked and trusted. Here, well, I’ve got the whole pack and I’m happy and it’s good. I don’t want to leave.”

“Really?”

“Really!” Jason said laughing. 

“Okay, well, that’s good.” Stiles said numbly.

“Of course it is, you idiot.” Jason grinned, his smile slipping slightly, “But what about the wards, won’t you have to go back and do them?” 

“Actually, yeah, I rang Elsie earlier this week and said I’d go renew them. It’s been six months, it’s better to go and check rather than just leave them until it’s urgent.”

“Look at you, growing up, acting sensible.” Derek teased and Stiles prodded him in the ribs before leaning in and kissing him slowly. Derek couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face when Stiles pulled away. 

Stiles left on the Saturday morning, insisting that he’d be fine without anyone. Every instinct Derek had said that he needed to go with Stiles but Stiles had silenced him with a kiss at the airport. One that had been caught by cameras and would no doubt appear in the mornings paper. Then he was gone. 

He was back by Sunday morning. He looked tired and in need of a sleep, but he still grinned happily when he saw Derek and the rest of the pack waiting for him in arrivals. Derek pulled him into a tight hug, inhaling the scent of Stiles before finally letting everyone else have a hug.

“Guys, I was gone less than twenty-four hours.” Stiles laughed.

“It felt a lot longer.” Derek mumbled into his ear, putting an arm around Stiles’ shoulder and pulling him close.

“Have you seen?” Isaac grinned, holding up a paper, “Sterek is official!” He showed them the paper of Stiles and Derek kissing at the airport. Stiles groaned. 

“Really? Sterek? That’s nearly as bad as Stason!” He said, Jason laughing loudly along with the rest of the pack. 

“Come on,” Derek said, pulling them towards the car, “Let’s go home.”


End file.
